Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind
by SPRGMR27
Summary: (Read the Important Update please. It's a major update to this writing.)
1. Chapter 1 Where The Flux am I?

**A few things to note before you read:**

**Truth be told, I haven't seen much of Xenoblade Chronicles so I have no idea about what's the main plot of the storyline. Don't worry though; as I will be watching a play through as I write this fanfiction so I will know what's going on as I write.**

** The reason for keeping this a bit blind as I write because I've seen so many SI that knew all about the game, but I wanted to do something knew. **

**So how about placing somebody that has no idea what the world is and have them go through the main story mode?**

**Anyway, let's get going onto the story.**

Chapter 1: Where The Flux am I?

Oh how I love hanging out in the park. The cool breeze, the sun keeping you at the right temperature and how life couldn't be any better. That's where I was after another day in school, resting out in the park minding my own business. I was wearing my iconic thin black jacket with the hoodie down and underneath it was my purple shirt. My boot-cut jeans reached just at my heels with my dark blue and white shoes along with white socks underneath. With the wind going through my hair, I thought nothing of anything and closed my eyes, going into my mind and wandering in my thoughts. My mind kept me occupied as I forget the world around me and I do think I should have been paying attention, because the next thing I knew my eyes opened up to a night sky not in the park I was in.

"What the-?" I asked getting up from the grass field I was on, "When did I get here?"

My shoulder-length dark brown-almost black hair blew in the nighttime breeze as my slightly dark green eyes scanned the field around me, as I knew for a fact I wasn't on Earth anymore. The world around me wasn't one that I recognized right away, but the beauty of nature took my breathe away. I was focusing on my surrounding so much that I didn't even see something on the ground, which I did in fact trip on.

"Yikes! Ow~! What did I just trip on-?!"

I looked down to where my feet were and my eyes widen seeing what looked to be some kind of small bracelet. It wasn't too big or small for me, but just right for me and I decided to keep it on my right wrist for the time being. The bracelet was a dark blue color like my shoes, but it had golden and white carving in a unique pattern. Just as I released my hand from the bracelet, I held what sounded to be noises of faint screams and mechanical noises. Turning towards the direction, I didn't know if I should have run that way, but I needed to get to cover, which wasn't anywhere in the field. Taking a deep breathe, I began to run to find someplace to hide.

As I ran, I noticed how different this place was from Earth and by this; I deduced that I wasn't on Earth anymore but someplace else. I passed by many creatures as more of the objects fell from the sky; my only concern was getting to cover. My eyes looked up and saw a town begin attacked by robotic beings. I froze in my tracks, seeing the robotic beings going after people and… eating them?!

"What in the world's going on here?!" I asked looking at the scene before noticing a glow on the bracelet I wore, "Oh now what?!"

Looking down, I saw a weird symbol upon my bracelet. Before I knew it, a blade appeared in my right hand, looking a bit familiar to me, though I couldn't tell why. It looked like my bracelet in terms of colors, but it was very weird and unique in its old right. It didn't look like it had a blade of its own, but it looked blunt enough with the blunt end being longer and shorter than by the grip, which had weird multi-layered glass in a shape of a diamond. Nothing was glowing, but the next thing I knew I heard footsteps and voices coming from behind me.

"Look Shulk, somebody's by the entrance!" A female voice said behind me.

The trio came from behind my but before they could ask anything we heard another scream and saw somebody else being eaten alive by another one of the robotic creatures.

"They're eating people!" The fair-haired boy exclaimed as the four of us saw it dragging off the body.

"It's horrible," The female replied before she noticed how nervous and terrified I was, "Hey are you alright?"

"Well… besides the facts there are robotic creatures about eating people and waking up here…" I said wandering off in my thoughts a bit, "I think… I-I'm mostly ok… I'm not hurt after all."

"That's good; Mechon usually attack all Homs in the area."

"To be fair, I did wake in a field not too far from here…"

Homs? Mechon? I've never heard those words used before… except for Homs… but from where?

"Say, I've never seen a Hom like you wearing those clothes before," the other young man said looking at me, "Where do you come from anywhere?"

"I think now's not the time for questions… Because those… Mechons don't look so friendly…"

"Is Dunban ok?" The blonde one asked looking towards a house with an open door.

"Fiora! Go check up on him!" The other man said to the girl behind them.

"Ok!"

The girl ran off just as one of the Mechons came towards us.

"Heads up Reyn!" The blonde guy said before looking over at me, "Can you fight?"

"I… think so… Though I've never actually fought a real battle before…" I replied, looking at my blade, "But I guess there's a first for everything; I'll just keep in the back."

"I'm Shulk by the way and he's Reyn. You?"

"I… You may call me Neetz."

"Well then Neetz, if this thing wants a fight," Reyn said stretching his right arm, "Then let's give it one."

Taking a deep breathe, I said both guys get their weapons and charge at the creature. I stayed mostly in the back, sometimes helping them up as they took it out. It was when Reyn struck it from the bottom did it collapse in a heap. Both of them were panting as I can from behind them, my weapon fading away into my bracelet… Weird technology.

"See? Didn't stand a chance," Reyn said laughing a bit.

"That seemed way too easy," I said looking at them, "Um… Are these creatures that easily defeated?"

"It's not Neetz. We've disabled it, but only for now. It'll reactivate soon!"

"I knew there had to be a catch to these things…"

"You're talking like you've never seen one in your life," Reyn said looking at me, "Where do you come from exactly that doesn't know about Mechons?"

"That's… a long story…"

Just then Shulk looked towards the house before we all saw Fiora running to us.

"Where's Dunban?" Shulk asked her.

"He's gone! I can't find him anywhere," She replied before looking at me, "Is she alright? She looks nervous."

"Just a bit shaken from battle," Shulk replied, "Her first time actually fighting."

"What?" Reyn asked her, "He ain't fit to face those things!"

"Reyn, let's get to the lab," Shulk said to him.

"The lab? Of course! The Monado's there!"

"Exactly. The Monado can take out Mechon."

The two boys quickly headed off to the lab as Fiora and I just watched them go for a few feet before Fiora went after them. Were they seriously going to go in with those crazy machines? I was frozen for a few seconds as they ran off and only until I just barely saw them did I have to make one choice I'd never forget. As I thought that staying alone wasn't going to help me survive, I ran after them.

**~Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind~**

I somehow got lost inside the market area – or at least I think I was in that area dodging Mechons left and right. Whenever one of those Mechons showed up, I managed to dodge and at least escape unharmed. Though I wanted to rescue other people, there wasn't anybody left as I continued to find myself lost. One way or another, I stopped inside a small area after escaping to here something crashing down far away. I flinched hearing it before I looked around, trying to figure out what I should do. I could go find Shulk and his friends… but then again I'm lost…

_Just then my eyes widen as everything around me changed, showing me a bridge and a fight between two machines… One with a face… the other with… Fiora?! _

As soon as it came it left, sending many questions to my head: What was that? Who was that robot fighting Fiora? What was she doing? Where were the others? Before I even ask question pains shot up from the bracelet on my wrist, sending my world plunging into darkness.

**~Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind~**

I awoke feeling a killer headache and on a bed… Wait what?! Wanting to awake fully, I tried to force my body to do so, but to know avail. Mentally sighing, I had to let my body do its thing and not long after did I wake up, only to see a man looking over me.

"I see you're awake now," He said as I blinked a few times, "You know, you worried Shulk and Reyn a lot…"

"…And you… are?" I asked sitting up before holding my head, "Ow… this headache…"

"Hey, rest easy now; you're luck that you're even alive. If Shulk didn't find you when he did, you would have been a goner."

"Shulk… Shulk! I-Is he alright?!" I asked, "I-I mean… Are Reyn and Fiora alright as well…?"

"Reyn and Shulk are fine… but Fiora…" He said before wandering off, "…She's gone…"

"W-What?!"

"Don't cry about it; Shulk's already taking it hard…"

"Oh, I see… Say are you… the Dunban guy Shulk was talking about?"

"Yes, I am… And if I'm correct you're not from around here…"

"Yeah… you could say that… But where are the boys?"

"They're going off to chase after the Mechon that killed Fiora."

"…Really?!" I asked before sighing, feeling my headache getting slightly worse after getting better, "Argh~! I'll never understand boys…"

"And I don't think I'll ever understand women…"

"Yeah, I'm not surprised Dunban… Wait are the boys going alone by themselves?"

"They are."

"D-Don't you think it's dangerous for them to go after that thing? I-I mean you know… Are you really letting them go off alone?"

"Listen Neetz, Shulk and Reyn can take care of themselves. Besides I couldn't stop them, even if I could."

"…This is _why_ boys shouldn't go alone Dunban… Say, where are the boys?"

"Oh, they're going to head out right about now; let me guess… You're going to go after them?"

"Well… I can't just stay here; I… like to travel a lot and why not tag along with them for awhile… Besides I am on a journey of my own."

"And what's that?"

"It's… something personal, but I can tell you that where I come from, it's different than Colony 9."

"Well then, you better get going or you'll be left behind, though keep an eye on your headache."

"Really? Thanks Dunban!"

Getting up, I ran down the stairs and out the door, just as both boys turned around towards the exit. Bolting out the door, I knew that something about the boys drawn me towards them.

"Shulk! Reyn!" I called out, "Hey wait up!"

"N-Neetz! What are you doing here?!" Shulk exclaimed seeing me, "Aren't you suppose to be resting?!"

"Dunban allowed me to come with you two boys. After all if anybody's going to be making sure you two aren't getting into trouble it should be me."

"But Neetz-!"

"No buts Shulk! Even if you both don't like it I'm coming as well!"

"…Alright, but just don't get yourself into trouble."

"Sure thing Shulk!"

Smiling, the three of us headed off to new lands. Despite my limited knowledge of this world, they were my best bet that if it was a game, they had to be the main storyline… and they might return me home. If not though… Why not get along with some people if I'm stuck here for a long time… I'll blend in quicker, but I do hope I'll return home soon…


	2. Chapter 2: Time To Go! Tephra Cave!

**Thank you everybody who have read this so far. It really helps a lot as I'm tackling this huge project. Leaving reviews will really help me out, so if you could please leave a review once in awhile; it'll really help me out.**

**Special thanks to Cormag Ravenstaff for reviewing last chapter. Yeah, I know I'm taking a huge project upon my hands, but I will see this one through! **

**Now onto the chapter!**

**Note: This Chapter is very long because if I had to split it into two parts, it wouldn't make any sense. I'll do my best to avoid this in the future though…**

Chapter 2: Time To Go! Tephra Cave!

As the three of us were heading towards the ruins, Shulk was helpful enough to inform me about what he knew about the world. It was pretty nice and gave me some information about this place that I would need to know. As I guessed they asked me questions on where I was from, but I decided to avoid the question; after all who would believe I was from another world and suddenly dropped down into this one without any warning or prior knowledge?

It wasn't very long once we stepped into the ruins and the place really took the breath away from me. I'm not sure why, but I was always one to fall in love with anything regarding nature… including my strange fondness of rocks… Regardless during the way there, Shulk and Reyn finished up quests got new ones and even helped me get myself used to battle… After getting a weapon of course. I still hadn't showed the weird bracelet of mine yet and since Shulk had the Monado upon his back, he was kind enough to lend me his Junk Sword until I found a weapon that I could use on my own. Maybe if I can somehow control the weapon from my bracelet and use its powers, then I could return Shulk the favor. Too busy in the thoughts and distracted by nature, I didn't notice the two had stopped by a door with a green marking onto it… until I almost bumped into Shulk. Luckily I stopped just as Shulk turned to me as I stopped.

"Neetz, are you ready?" He asked looking at me.

"Huh-?! Oh right, I am," I replied, "I… kind of got lost in the beauty of this place… Where I come from we don't… usually have these kinds of stuff…"

"Well, can't waste anymore time now," Reyn said us, "Let's get going."

"Right!" I replied smiling.

The three of us walked passed a caved in-route but then Shulk stopped seeing… just a lamp?

"An ether lamp…" Shulk said aloud.

Reyn walked a bit closer to inspect it as I went over to them, as I was still lagging a bit behind.

"Don't traders use these things as guideposts?" Reyn asked.

"Yeah. We can follow them to the Bionis' knee."

"Ok. But if armed traders need guideposts, it must be pretty dangerous here."

"But… aren't guideposts supposed to lead a safe route for traders?" I asked them both.

"Only one way to find out," Reyn replied looking over at me, "Let's keep our wits about us."

"Defiantly," Shulk said nodding, "Neetz, stay close."

"Alright," I replied.

**~Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind~**

Let's see what kinds of things we did up to find about four soldiers lying on the ground… We killed many monsters to get quest items, which for some reason was harder than it was suppose to be according to Shulk. Mining crystals and somehow I was getting the best crystals, which Reyn got jealous of me because of that… And now we found dead trader bodies from Colony 6. I watched as Reyn and Shulk returned the bodies to the B Bionis by placing them into a pool glowing a teal blue. Shulk noticed how uncomfortable I was seeing the bodies, as they were gross, so he told me it would be fine… That we'd get through this together and I could return to my family… If only he knew…

"That was way harder than I thought it'd be," Reyn said in between breaths, "I'm just about ready to collapse."

"Then you should train harder," I said jokingly walking over to the boys.

"And you should too you know!"

"Oh come, I was just joking around Reyn… Can't a girl have some fun too?"

"Let's take a rest you two," Shulk said turning to us, "If the monsters in here really killed all these traders, we need to be at our best. I'm wide awake, so I'll take first watch. Neetz, get some sleep as well; you're not use to fighting, so it's probably drained out your energy as well along with that headache of yours."

"Thanks, man," Reyn replied, "The nap'll d me good."

"Sure thing Shulk," I replied remembering my headache, as it came back again, "I'll need it…"

We gathered up some wood and started a fire, but I soon got myself comfortable and fell asleep nearby the fire.

"…_You're a survivor from the Monado expedition team that went out fourteen years ago…" Reyn's voice said in my head… "There was a blizzard or something and your mom and dad died…"_

_The dream state I was in had me… watching something like a cut scene as the two of them were talking, but I was only seeing a part of it. I was sleeping by the fire and they were by me as I slept, but I guess Reyn couldn't fall asleep… But the thing he was talking about… was it about Shulk?_

_The scene changed as I found myself standing in the small campsite, all along but with Shulk's… Monado lying in the ground… Looking at myself, I seemed normal until I noticed that the bracelet was missing from my wrist…_

"_A curious one you are… to find yourself in this world…" a soft, male voice said echoing in the area, "Yet you do not fear it…"_

"_Um… W-Who's there?!" I asked aloud…_

"_You hold the key… The key to their survival and your return home… But if you're forced to choose only one… Which one would you want…?"_

"_The key… their survival and my return home…? Just- What are you talking about…?!"_

"_Just help the Monado… It'll explain everything in due time…"_

"…_Neetz! Neetz!"_

_My eyes widen hearing Shulk calling out to my name._

"_S-Shulk?! Shulk!"_

"_Neetz!"_

**~Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind~**

My eyes shot open just as I heard hissing around me. Grabbing the Junk Sword as I got up, I found me with Shulk and Reyn surrounded by the spider-like creatures, sending chills up my spine.

"W-What are these thing d-doing here?!" I asked before they charged right at us.

Separating, Reyn got most of the creature's attention, but a few of them were focused on Shulk and I. As we were fighting them off from the back, I had to keep myself watching out for the spiders coming after me. I only swung my sword when needed as Reyn with Shulk's help took out the rest of the monsters. Once all the creepy monsters were gone, all of us looked at one another as we placed our weapons away.

"I'm sorry Reyn," Shulk said before looking over at me, "Are you alright Neetz?"

"Shaken… but fine…" I replied.

"Don't worry about it Shulk," Reyn replied, "It looked like you were having a nightmare!"

"Really?" Shulk asked folding his arms and he began to think.

While he was thinking, both Reyn and I noticed how… distant he was when I called out his name…

"The True Monado?" Shulk asked aloud, not noting how confused we were, "Was I dreaming?"

"Shulk? Hello~?!" I asked waving my hand in front of his face, "Are you listening to us?!"

"What's with you?" Reyn asked, "We better get a move on."

As Reyn led the way, I looked into Shulk's eyes, just trying to see what was wrong with him. I knew that my dream was weird… but I couldn't think about it just yet, as with killer monsters daydreaming wouldn't be an option. Grabbing his arm, I noticed how he didn't even flinch, but I sighed and started to drag Shulk along.

"Let's get going Shulk before Reyn gets worked up," I said aloud.

I only took a few steps before I heard Shulk clear his throat.

"Now look who finally decided to wandering inside his head," I said stopping and releasing my grip, "S-Sorry but I didn't want you to lag behind…"

"No, it's fine," Shulk replied before we both saw Reyn going off still, "Let's get going then."

"Lead the way Shulk!"

Both of us headed off, but when we finally got to where Reyn was, my eyes widen to see what looked to be egg sacks with armor inside of it.

"What on Bionis are those?" Reyn asked looking at them.

"No kidding Reyn," I replied before looking at Shulk, "Got any ideas Shulk?"

"Monsters' egg sac… I think," Shulk replied as the three us went a bit closer to them, but Reyn went the furthest, "But it looks like there are Mechon parts insides as well."

"So… what can of monsters are these?" I asked Shulk, not wanting to get closer to them.

"Probably some type of Arachno…"

Just then Shulk's eyes widen and a flash a light blinded me for a second.

**~Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind~**

_My eyes opened to see everything all black and white… Webs came forth and grabbed both Reyn and Shulk before pulling them up towards the ceiling. The next scene changed to them surrounded by Arachno and then… their bodies were lying dead…_

**~Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind~**

The vision soon left as it came before I saw Shulk turned towards Reyn.

"Reyn! Neetz! Get back!" Shulk yelled.

"What was that?" I asked myself quietly before I instinctively moved backwards and dodged webs coming down form the ceiling, "AH~!"

My eyes darted up as I heard more sticky webs then shoot down and wrapped around both Reyn and Shulk.

"Reyn! Shulk!" I yelled as I got up shaking in fear.

Before I could run to them, the webs were pulled up into the ceiling, leaving me all alone with the eggs as I heard footsteps and yelling faintly.

"What just… Did I… just see the future?" I asked, "…Get it together Neetz! The boys need your help… even if you do hate spiders…"

I looked towards the exit before seeing the egg sacs move a bit more. Maybe I should get out of here as quietly and quickly as I could. To my relief, I was able to get out of there without making much noise before running off to find the boys. It didn't take long to see their shadows, running atop a second floor away from the monsters.

"Shulk! Reyn! I need to hurry and get to them fast!" I said looking down at the lake before seeing vines in the distant, "If I can climb up… I should be able to get over to the boys."

The only way logical was to run across the lake and dodge the enemies. I really had no choice but to do so and I did. Managing to get through safety, I saw vines and as it reached over to the upper level. This was my only way up to the boys and fearing for their safely, I started to climb up.

**~Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind~**

"Neetz!" Reyn's voice called out to me as I ran holding the Junk Sword.

"Shulk! Reyn!" I yelled as I looked left and right hoping to catch a glimpse of them.

Panting, I kept running until I entered a spiral cavern and stopped, seeing the two in the middle of the swarm.

"Guys!" I yelled.

"There's too many of them!" Reyn yelled out, "We kill one, and ten more pop up!"

"Hold on!"

Just then more of them started to shoot webs and chase after the boys after from me, causing them to run away. The room was the one I saw in my vision… Oh no!

"Shulk! Reyn! Don't run that way!" I yelled chasing after them, "Guys!"

"Neetz!" Shulk exclaimed stopping with Reyn and turning around to see me.

Just as I stopped, my eyes widen seeing what looked to be the queen of the Arachno crawling down behind them and the vision matched up perfectly with this one. If this was truly a vision, I needed to do something to save them! The queen or leader finally landed down and when the boys turned around, it roared aloud before lunging to attack them. Fear and panic swept through my body and the grip on my sword tighten, not noticing that my bracelet was glowing and changed the Junk Sword to the first weapon I had.

_If only I had come here sooner!_

Just then I heard buzzing from my sword and when I looked down, a symbol appeared in the diamond: an hourglass with a thunderbolt going through it. The glass now became a brown color before the hourglass's thunderbolt began to glow a gold color.

"What's… What is-?!" I asked aloud before getting cut off.

Everything around me began to fade away into tiny particles as my headache grew worse. I saw the vision again and all that appeared in my mind way if I was just there faster… I could save them… Shulk would have reacted too late and Reyn was defenseless… I needed to stop time to save them! My eyes opened up as the particles began to reform, but while everything was being placed back together, I noticed that another version of me was there… When I had just stopped running as the leader of the Arachno was coming down. Gripping my sword, I had to charge at the creature while it was still climbing down, before it got to Shulk and Reyn. As I ran, the blunt edge of the sword suddenly had a blade form at the ends, but it was purple laser-like extension. Time was slowly returned as I just fazed through Shulk and Reyn as the creature landed down.

"No… leave them alone!" I yelled raising my sword up as it lunged at them.

Suddenly everything returned to normal speed as my blade sent the leader crying out in pain, cringing back in pain, I panted heavily before I turned to look back at Shulk and Reyn, both in shock as I noticed that the other version of me had faded away.

"What just… What did you just do?!" Reyn asked looking at me.

"What's that weapon you're holding?!" Shulk asked seeing the blade I was holding as I stood up.

"I… don't know…" I replied as I saw the brown glow of the diamond fade away, turning to a purple glow to match the extension of the blade, "This… is the first time I've actually used it…"

"…Well that's something-! Neetz!" Shulk yelled as his Monado activated and turned a yellow-golden color and used it to form a shield around the three of us, much to our surprise.

"What just happened now?!" I asked turning around to see Shulk watching as the Monado returned to its original blue color.

"The power of the Monado?!" Shulk asked eyes widen looking at the blade.

Both Shulk and I didn't see the leader coming back to attack us, but Reyn luckily noticed this and blocked the attack, along with the shield Shulk made. He quickly sent it back with a strong force.

"Glad two of us figured out what these things were going to do," Reyn said looking back at us, "Let's go you two."

"Right!" Shulk replied activating the Monado.

"Got your back boys!" I replied with my blade ready to strike, "I'll try my best!"

The leader roared at us and the three us started to attack after the shields faded away. As many more Arachnos came from all around, Shulk and Reyn focused on the leader as I took out the small ones while making sure no more attacks weren't predicted by Shulk. The blade I had was surprising working well and I felt like wielding this was natural to me…. Despite myself never actually hold any kind of sword on Earth before. It felt all-too normal and it sent chills up my spine as I fought. Shulk was casting the shield on us whenever he had a vision or the leader tried to attack us.

"Neetz! Let's get ready for a chain attack!" Shulk yelled back at me as I saw a swarm of the creatures running my way.

"A Chain Attack?!" I asked a bit confused before seeing them getting closer, "Argh! Spiral Strike!"

Grabbing my blade in one hand, I quickly twirled around and the force of my attack killed most of them before I stopped. It felt like… it looked like an Art… Did I learn an Art…? Those special moves that Reyn and Shulk used…? I shook my head, not wanting to think deeply about it as I ran over to form a triangle around the leader.

"Ok, ready Shulk!" I yelled with my blade out ready to attack.

"Right, time for a chain attack!" Shulk yelled.

Shulk swung the Monado at the leader, inflicting Break as Reyn was the next to go, using topple. Reyn motioned for me to attack and I had a good idea on what I needed to do… and it would work as I had more enemies around me.

"Let spins the tides to our favor!" I said activating my Spiral Strike.

I spun around quickly and then stopped soundly before landing down. I quickly swung my blade that sent it reeling in pain.

"Shulk, now's your chance!"

The Chain Attack succeeded and as soon as the leader had fallen, the other Arachnos fled the scene, leaving us to chance our breaths. As the boys withdrew their weapons, I looked at mine, which was still activated.

"Looks like the Monado works on more than just Mechon," Reyn said as the three of us faced each other, "I gotta say that was pretty awesome! And don't forget that wrap thing you did Neetz! That was still pretty awesome!"

"Right… thanks Reyn," I replied with my free hand scratching the base of my head and neck.

"Reyn... Neetz… I think I realized something," Shulk said looking at us.

"And what's that Shulk?" I asked lowering my hand.

"The future I see… It isn't set. I think it's more like a warning."

"A warning?" Reyn asked.

"Yeah… A warning about what would happen. What will happen if I don't do anything or if I can't do anything. So I can use this power to change the future. And that's exactly what I intend to do…"

"Well if that's the case…" I said with my free hand resting now on my hip, "I think other people would like that too… maybe even your friends back in Colony 9…"

"Yeah… Say Neetz, about that thing you did earlier with that weapon of yours… Can I see it?" Shulk asked looking at me.

"Um… Sure thing-!"

I held up my hand holding the blade, but to my surprise the blade had returned to the normal Junk Sword. Confused, I swung the blade a bit, but nothing react and my headache felt the same dulling pain as it was before…

"Huh? Did it just disappear?!" Reyn asked surprised as I was.

"I… not sure myself," I replied as I placed my sword back into its sheath, "But even still… That was weird how time seemed to vanish for a few second…"

"What do you mean?" Shulk asked.

"I… really don't know how to even begin…" I began trying to figure out how to even begin to explain this to them… as it wasn't clear to me at all, "I can say it was that when I saw you both about to be killed by the huge leader… everything around me vanished into tiny particles as my headache grew worse. Then as I was thinking about how I could change it… and when everything was returning to what it was originally… but it wasn't the same; it looked like there were two of me and I had gone back into time. I… then ran 'through' you two and struck the huge Arachno… as crazy that sounds its true…"

"So wait… if that were so, then why was it that the Junk Sword changed into the sword you used to fight the Arachno off?"

"I… not sure… but I do have a feeling this bracelet of mine might hold the key to this puzzle…"

I lowered my jacket sleeve to show them and as I predicted, Shulk was immediately fascinated by it.

"What kind of bracelet if this?" He asked as he grabbed my arm to see it better, "It's nothing like I've seen before! Did you get this where you came from?"

"…Um… Funny thing is I kind of found it on the ground and decided to hang onto it… but yeah I did find it where I can from…"

Having to lie to Shulk wasn't easy, but then again the smell of dead creatures wasn't something I'd get accustomed to either.

"Say Shulk, how about let's get out of this cave? I… think it would be safer than inside here considering the creatures in here. Plus I kind of need some fresh air."

"Yeah, you're right," Shulk replied, "Alright then, let's get going to the Bionis' knee."


	3. Chapter 3: The Bionis' Kneecap

**And here's the next Chapter everybody! I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed and I have a special announcement: I have a Beta Reader who's going to help me out and it's TrueSapphire! So now you'll see some major… grammatical/spelling changes in the story for now on.. Ok, other than that, let's get it started!**

Chapter 3: The Bionis' Kneecap

As much as I wanted to get out of the spider-I mean Arachno cave area–and they're both the same thing anyways, yet they're called different things. But then again...they aren't the same as we don't have huge, crazy human-killing spiders back on Earth except for movie magic. Shulk and Reyn took care of more quests and things like that, which if we were going to do everything, I might get bored pretty easily unless I fight with them. The new Art I unlocked–I now dubbed Spiral Strike-really came in handy for the boys when things got tight. Even though we have more run-ins with the Arachnos, I managed to get used to fighting giant spiders.

What seemed to be forever was finally over, and the three of us started to head towards the exit, and of course, passed through the Arachno Queen's Nest–thank one of the soldiers for that information. Once we were walking towards the exit path, I stopped and thought about the weird time-warp I experienced. I couldn't explain it, but it felt natural, yet unnatural for me. If I was getting used to this world already, would I still be the same when I got back home or would I have to adapt to living here instead? But what if...I had to tell the boys or anybody else the truth? Would they accept me or abandon me?

"Neetz!" Shulk called out, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Come on!"

I turned to see the exit and ran after the boys with a smile.

Ok... Can I just start praising how insane, yet beautiful the Bionis really was? At first, I questioned why they called the area they were going to the Bionis' kneecap...but I never expected that this world actually lived ON a stoned historical being with life springing forth from it. Even though Shulk did clarify that this was true, seeing it in person was another story; it was so huge! I almost fell to the grassy floor when I looked up! Life was around, just like the fields at home. Then I recalled how we're on the knee of the huge Bionis... Please don't tell me... Great, now I have to deal with fearing the fall and heights again.

"Wow..." Shulk awed as he looked up and his voice wandered off. Well, good luck talking to Shulk because my voice's been taken away by this place!

"No matter how many times I see this, I never get used to it," Reyn smiled at the Bionis. The boys turned around to not only look at the other massive stoned titan, but also to help me up to my feet. "Neetz, you need to stand up, you know." Reyn helped pull me up along with Shulk.

"Is this...your first time seeing this?" Shulk asked me, and I nodded. "Well, that explains it. How's it like to see this in person?"

"It's...amazing," I responded, looking out to the other huge mechanical titan. "To really think I've lived in a small part of a huge...place. I never imagined what it'll really be like to see it in person. It's AMAZING!" I yelled aloud, smiling before looking at both boys, only focusing on the other stone titan.

"On the other side of those clouds..." Shulk started off.

"Yep," Reyn finished up. "It's our enemy... Mechonis."

"Mechonis..." I mumbled to myself, casting my gaze down.

"Our enemy..." Shulk growled quietly with a bit of anger as he curled his hands into fists.

We just stood there for a while, taking it all in as I stood looking away from where the Mechonis came from. I didn't like it and yet...it made no sense as to why they needed to feed on living people to survive.

"If we just came up the Bionis' shin..." Reyn thought aloud, causing me to turn to the boys.

"Then this must be its kneecap, right?" Shulk finished, turning around.

"Yup. Which means Colony 6 is up ahead!" The three of us now looked towards the upper part of the leg, which I deduced that it was where we headed; it made the most sense to me. Both boys gazed around, looking for a place to climb up when we saw one part of the wall with vines going up.

"Looks like we can climb up there," Shulk noted.

"Great! I love a good climb," Reyn said, chuckling a bit while punching his left hand with his right fist.

"As long as it's safe, I'll be fine," I added to them.

"Relax, it'll be fine," Reyn assured me as I turned to him with a frown.

"I swear, if anyone gets hurt from climbing, I'm blaming you, Reyn."

"Now, you two, let's get going," Shulk chuckled a bit.

As Reyn happily went off to climb, I looked out towards the breathtaking view and sighed aloud. This beautiful world wasn't like what we had on home in terms of Earth not being some huge frozen stone creature with life growing off of it and being attacked by robots who ate people. Despite those things, who really had me surprised, who even though they had technology, it still kept a medieval type of feel to it. The creatures here did remind me of the ones on Earth, but they seemed to be more exotic. I really suck at figuring out how to explain their differences like the Arachnos, which are just bigger spiders.

I kept remembering what Shulk had told me about this world, but then again, with my headache going on, I couldn't quite remember the whole entire lore/background about this place. If I could, I would ask him again...but I taken too much into the view. What I didn't expect was for Shulk to tap my shoulder, causing me to flinch.

"Ah! Shulk!" I yelped, turning to him. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry Neetz! But I just couldn't help notice how you're...taking in a lot of the Bionis, here including," Shulk said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Is it slowing down your progress? If so, I can wait until things calm down to check these places out."

Shulk shook his head. "No no, it's fine. I can understand it for being outside here for the first time. Though for you... You've acted like you've never seen the world outside before."

"Um..." I gulped. "It's just that... I was thinking about what you said about this place...but my headache's getting in the way."

"About the battle between the Bionis and Mechonis?"

"Yeah... It's just... I never really expected it to truly be like this... These two titans fought one another...until struck with fatal blows, and are now ceased to be moving. It sounds like just some myth, to be honest," I explained, looking out towards the Mechonis. "This... This is truly unlike my home..."

"Say, you never did mention where you're home is. I know you're not from Colony 9 or 6; your clothes give that away. I'm just wondering though, where are you exactly from?"

My eyes widened, looking away from him. I couldn't tell anybody about where I was from... I couldn't. We've barely known each other for very long, or at least two or three days. The day was getting towards the evening and darkness will cover us all up soon. Even if I could bring myself to tell them, I don't think I'd ever be able to speak to them ever again.

"I... Well... Maybe I can explain it to you and Reyn later," I replied, turning to him. "I...don't think now's the best time... And if I did tell you, I'd have to do the same for Reyn as well... Though he is already climbing up towards Colony 6..."

"Alright then, but you'll tell us soon, alright?" Shulk asked me.

"Yeah..."

"Oi, you two!" Reyn yelled from up above the wall. "Are you two going to get up here or not?!"

"We're coming!" I yelled, smiling before looking over to Shulk, "Race ya there!"

I quickly ran off, laughing to myself as Shulk yelled and chased after me. Running around freely was something I loved to do, except for when people were watching me back on Earth. Here was a different story, as I wouldn't have strangers looking at me for a while, and the boys didn't seem to mind it. Reaching the vines, I quickly grabbed onto it and started climbing up. Once I reached the top, I ran over to where Reyn was, but I had to stop soon, so I jumped and landed on the grass laughing some more.

"Oh, how I love having no restrictions on what I can do!" I laughed before getting up, seeing that Shulk had just climbed up here. "I win, Shulk!"

"Right... Taking off before the race even begun," Shulk panted, catching his breath.

"Come on, Shulk! Can't handle a bit of fun? Or as Reyn said, you don't have any fun because of being a bookworm?" I just laughed aloud as Reyn made up some excuse. Just because I wasn't talking I overheard everything the boys were talking about. My stomach grumbled, wanting a snack, and I got a snack from Shulk as we continued our way towards Colony 6. The boys found some more enemies to fight, including bunnies with dark colored tails called Arm Bunnits–which was funny since we were on the leg–and gathered up more spoils. We continued our way towards Colony 6 and entered a canyon. Curiously, I was staring to wonder just how long it would take us to get there because sleeping outside without anything to keep myself warm and comfortable would be pretty hard to do.

"Hey, Shulk... Are we going to rest for the night soon?" I asked, letting out a yawn and covering my mouth with my hand. "It's getting late, and I'm tired..."

"Are you tired already, Neetz?" Shulk asked before smiling a bit. "Well, we do have to go through Gaur Plains though, so you do have a point."

"Please, Shulk! I'm not used to be out this late..."

"Alright, we'll stop inside the canyon for tonight. Tomorrow, we'll go off into Gaur Plains..."

"Yes!"

To my relief, inside the canyon, we found a group of Homs travelers, and they had everything for camping for the night. After striking some deals with them, they allowed us to spent the night borrowing their stuff–though Shulk had to pay more for that, plus the equipment for the three of us. I was so happy that I wouldn't just be sleeping out in the cold for the night. We all ate dinner and by the time I was lying down, the fire was slowly going out and almost everybody was asleep except for Shulk that is. My eyes were looking at the night sky and I couldn't help but be taken away by the twinkling stars in the sky. There were only a few times that I've seen the starry night sky without it being obscured by urban civilization back on Earth. But here...it was just like those times, but better! The only thing making it a bit worse was the canyon walls, but the stars twinkled at night, and all I could think about were my parents.

"Mom... Dad... Everyone..." I whispered to myself softly. "Please tell me you're all right back on Earth. I...just wish I could tell you that I'm fine, and I got new friends upon this brand new world...or rather, they're living on a stone titan-creature called Bionis. It…takes my breath away at how in the cave, it had shimmering crystals, a lake with ever-so clear water, and the fruitful living people and creatures here. I am putting myself in danger fighting robots that eat people called Mechons, but I'm now traveling with two new friends, Shulk and Reyn, to help them aid and maybe find my way back home. I...just hope that you'll be fine without me for some time...if times passes that is. So until the next night... Farewell, Earth...and farewell all that care for me. I'm going to be gone for some time...but let's hope it's not forever."

Closing my eyes, I began to drift off into sleep with the last thing I heard being the fire crackling.


	4. Chapter 4: Gaur Plains

**Here's Chapter 4 everyone and I really don't have much to say here besides saying thanks to TrueSapphire for helping me out. Now let's get this chapter going.**

Chapter 4: Gaur Plains

The next morning was when we headed off to Gaur Plains–after having a healthy breakfast of course! The boys bought themselves some new armor and even though Shulk wanted to get some for me, I noticed the lack of funds, so I told him I'd be fine for the time being. He didn't question it, and after parting ways with the travelers–though Shulk and Reyn got more quests to do–we began our way to Gaur Plains.

Entering the Gaur Plains of the Bionis' Leg, I expected it to be big as seeing how freaking big the Bionis, was and I wasn't disappointed at all. The vast amount of vegetation and stone cliffs made the area look incredible to me as the boys stopped.

"Shulk! Neetz! Look over there!" Reyn called us, turning and pointing over to something in the distance letting out smoke.

"Smoke?" Shulk noted.

"Maybe someone's got a fire going." Reyn grinned. "Hope they're cooking up something good!"

"I don't think it's a barbeque Reyn," I replied as I tried to get a better look at it. "The smoke doesn't look like one to me."

"Come on, let's take a look," Shulk asserted to the both of us.

We both nodded and we started to head into the plains. Seeing the creatures here took my breath away; if we had Leg Arduns and other creatures back on Earth...things might get out of control. Besides that, as we were hunting some of the creatures, we had stopped by a huge rock shooting out from the ground. Stopping there to heal up, I couldn't help myself being fascinated by the orange-mossy green rock. According to what Shulk said, the landmark was called 'Jabos Rest Rock Area.' It wasn't a clever name, but I didn't blame him for the name. Hunting more creatures, we found ourselves going towards the smoke after doing the quests that we could complete. Going closer to it, it looked like some kind of vehicle – probably either damaged or overheated.

"Someone's left a buggy out here," Reyn stated.

"That's strange," Shulk observed the buggy before folding his arms to think. "Who would just abandon a buggy in this place? And it's pretty new."

"Is it brand new?" I queried looking at him as he lowered his arms. "Because if so, then somebody clearly doesn't know how useful this might be."

"It's not brand new, Neetz, but it's in very good condition. You wouldn't just abandon it. So what did happen to the driver?"

"But how is it good condition Shulk? It's smoking!" I exclaimed.

"But it is, Neetz!"

"Fine..."

As the three of us looked at the buggy, trying to think of what could have happen, Shulk extended his arm out so he could touch it. I didn't really think much of it and Reyn wasn't paying attention, but when he did, my headache slightly got worse. I winced in pain for a split second before it went away. Thinking nothing much of it, I turned to look at Shulk, who now had panic in his eyes.

"Shulk? Shulk, what's wrong?!" I asked him.

"There's a boy! He's being attacked by monster!" Shulk exclaimed, looking at both of us.

"You saw it happening? Where?" Reyn asked in a hurry.

"I don't know! But it was near some water."

"Near water... But what made you have a vision all of sudden?"

"Maybe it was triggered by touching the buggy."

"Well, why are we just standing here then?" I asked, getting their attention. "Let's search everywhere where there is water. We're bound to find him eventually if we get going now."

"Ok."

After wandering around for something, or simply running away from huge creatures wanting to kill us, we found ourselves getting closer to a waterfall. Not wanting to waste any time, we ran over there and soon stopped to look for the boy.

"Shulk! Neetz! Over there!" Reyn yelled pointing over to our right.

We saw the boy on the ground, frozen in fear as the Leg Arduns roared at him. Hearing him scream, I couldn't help myself to think that his voice was a bit weird...but then I'm weird as I'm not from here, so I wasn't going to judge him. Both boys ran up in front of the boys as I can up from behind to help the kid up.

"Are you alright?" I asked the young boy.

"Who are you?" the boy quaked.

"Neetz! Get the boy outta here and to safely!" Reyn ordered, looking back at us. "Leave these guys to us."

"Ok then, just be careful!" I understood, looking at the boy now standing up. "Come on, let's hurry!"

After the boys returned with the fight, the four of us returned to the buggy. Shulk went to fix the buggy, and since I was right, I could bug Shulk all about it later. I made sure the boy was unharmed as Reyn kept an eye out for anything else coming our way. It wasn't that long until he finished and finally stood up.

"Ok. It should work now," Shulk spoke, nodding to the boy.

"Great! You saved my skin!" the boy said, still a bit out of breath. "My buggy short-circuited, and then there were those monsters, and… Well, thanks!"

"I fixed the circuit, but it's out of ether. Change the cylinder and it'll be as good as new."

"I think its time for the introductions," Reyn presented, pointing to the respective person. "I'm Reyn. He's Shulk. She's Neetz."

"Please to meet you," Shulk smiled to the boy.

"Nice to meet you," I smiled.

"Oh… Hi! I'm Juju," Juju answered back, then looked down. It looked like he wanted to say something. "Um... Where are you three heading? If you got time, you should come back to our camp!"

"Your camp?" Shulk asked.

"Yeah. It's not far."

"How about it?" Reyn asked us.

"Let's take him up on the offer," Shulk asserted, looking at me and Reyn. "I'm surprised there's a Homs camp here, but they might have some information."

Reyn nodded. "I suppose."

Shulk turned back to Juju. "Juju, can you tell us how to get there?"

"Sure," Juju responded. "If you go back to the oasis, you should see a tall stone post. Head there first."

"Then what?" Reyn inquired.

"Reyn, let Juju finish giving us the instructions on how to get there," I chimed in to Reyn before looking back at Juju. "Continue."

"There's a small path in the woods next to the stone post. Just follow it down to our camp," Juju finished.

"Thanks! Now let's get going."

After some time, we finally arrived at what looked to be the Homs camp. Juju was in the buggy, and we arrived at nighttime no less, so it was a good idea that we did go to the camp. The camp wasn't much, and I could see that this camp wasn't one meant to be found. It struck me as odd as we followed Juju into the camp. Inside the open area of the camp were a young woman and an old man. When we entered the camp, the woman turned around and I couldn't help noted the interesting clothing designs of the female. What's with this place with some woman wearing revealing clothing?

"Juju," the woman crooned. She walked towards us as Juju stopped the buggy. "Where have you been?" Looking at Juju, I couldn't help noticing how depressed he looked as she stood over her. "Don't tell me you were..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at the buggy and Juju a bit angrily. For whatever reason, as Juju said silent, I felt something of a brother-sister relationship between them. "I've told you a thousand times! We're not ready to leave the camp yet!"

"But I thought..." Juju trailed off.

"Juju!" she scolded him.

"Sorry… Sharla."

I couldn't help feel sorry for Juju, even though he did deserve to be punished. When Sharla bent down and placed her forehead against Juju's, I concluded that they had to be either siblings, or really close to one another. Smiling, she removed her forehead from his before turning to look at us...or rather Reyn and Shulk since I was the closest to the buggy.

"That gear..." Sharla observed Reyn's gear. "You must be survivors from the Defense Force!" She quickly ran up to Reyn and placed her left hand on Reyn's chest in a desperate manner. "Is Colony 6 ok? Did Gadolt make it?" Her face was a bit close to Reyn, who was surprised by this closeness.

"Hold on," Reyn began. "What're you talking about?"

"We've... We've come from Colony 9," Shulk averred.

I glanced over at Shulk, and then looked back at Sharla. She then turned to me and walked closer to me. A bit intimidated, I backed away from the buggy towards the boys.

"And where are you from?" Sharla inquired, looking straight into my eyes, "Because I know you're not from Colony 9 or 6."

I gulped hearing her strict, yet blunt tone of her voice. This wasn't the best time to state the question I wish to avoid currently, but I decided seeing there was a camp here, I could possible slide around the question with a blunt answer.

"She's with us," Shulk answered. "Her clothes were a gift to her; that's why she wears them."

"Th-these clothes are mementos from my family," I stammered out. "That's why I look different."

She just gave me a questionable look before looking at the boys. "Colony 9..." Sharla stated aloud.

"They saved me from some monsters," Juju interrupted. "This is Reyn, Shulk and Neetz."

"Oh..." Sharla sounded disappointed. "So you're not from Colony 6... Thank you for helping Juju," she smiled at us. "I'm his sister, Sharla."

"I told them they can rest here...with us."

She glanced back at Juju. "Did you now? Well, all right. I suppose it's only fair."

"Did something happen? To Colony 6?" Reyn asked curiously.

"Actually, we're heading there ourselves," Shulk stated.

"Colony 6 has been..." Sharla's voice trailed off until bitterness and sadness filled her voice, "our home! It's been occupied by the Mechon."

Her gaze went away from us, and I could see Juju looking down away from us a well. This was no ordinary camp; it was camp for refugees. Just what happened to that colony?! Both boys looked sadden as well, and I couldn't blame them.

They said only two colonies were left... Well, one right now. According to what I learned from Shulk, there were once ten colonies. The reason Colony 9 and 6 were still left was because the other eight destroyed colonies in the forgotten past were closer to Sword Valley, the Mechon, and, therefore, Mechonis. Colony 9 has survived longer than the others because of its one advantage: its great distance from Mechonis. Colony 9 was able to live peacefully despite the attacks happening above them. For those living in Colony 9, this was a home that could never be replaced.

But now the Colony 6 was gone, it was only a matter of time before Colony 9 fell as well. Inside my heart, I wished that it wouldn't happen in the future, and yet something inside me asserted that it would happen.

"I'll tell you all about it inside. Follow me," Sharla told us, turning around and heading towards the cave.

Shaking the feeling off, the three of us looked at one another before following Sharla. Something told me inside deep within the depths of my human mind that this was only the beginning of a tragedy to come.


	5. Chapter 5: Colony 6's Remains

**Next Chapter and I'm on a roll here! Also for one note before we begin, this part doesn't go according to the game, but it's just because I did what I would have done at that time. Anyway, can't keep you here waiting so let's begin!**

Chapter 5: Colony 6's Remains

Inside the cave, we found lots of supplies, children and elders. The cave had pockets, each with enough room for refugees to live inside peacefully. It was very bare to the bone on what they had, but since the colony was attacked by the Mechon, I can see why they didn't have much. A few lanterns lit the place and even in the night, it looked like the evening. Shulk managed to find out where Sharla and Juju were, so Reyn and I came over. Sharla cleared her throat, ready to tell us the tale of what befell Colony 6.

"We had already fought off the Mechon a year ago, at the Battle of Sword Valley," Sharla began as she looked at us. "It left us a false sense of security. The Colony 6 Defense Force didn't even notice the approaching Mechon. By the time the air-raid siren sounded, a swarm of Mechon had blackened the sky. They ate people and burned our buildings. Juju and I dedicated ourselves to evacuating the children and elderly... I don't know what happened next."

I noticed that as she told the tale, there were a storm of emotions being hidden from most people, but I could tell that the emotions were present. Being in drama and doing that myself several times had its good points.

"It's just like what happened at Colony 9," Shulk muttered.

"They attacked your colony as well?!" Sharla gasped.

"Yes... It's good that you managed to evacuate so many."

"We have Otharon…the Colonel…to thank for that. Him and Gadolt."

"This Gadolt…" Reyn began before he stopped seeing the sadness in her eyes as she looked down.

"He would have been my husband by now if not for all this."

Both Shulk and Reyn looked down to the floor, and I just closed my eyes and placed both hands close to my heart.

"Cheer up, you three!" Sharla chuckled suddenly.

The three of us looked up, quite surprised at what Sharla had told us. I couldn't understand how she can still be this way after the Mechon attacked their home.

"Er…" Reyn's voice trailed off.

"We can't lose hope just yet!" Sharla continued. "I'm certain that Gadolt and the other soldiers are alive. They're still fighting. I can feel it."

Good thing you still have hope... I would have lost all joy if that were to happen to me and my family. Juju tried to say something just then, but stopped. This managed to grab our attention. We all turned to him, and he was bit shocked before continuing on with what he had to say.

"You're on your way to...Colony 6, right?" Juju asked.

"You bet!" Reyn slightly proclaimed. "We're up for some revenge. I bet we can even get your colony back!"

"And I think you're crazy on that point Reyn," I grumbled to myself.

"There you go showing off again..." Shulk trailed off at Reyn, seeing how I just sighed.

"If anyone can do it, it's you three," Juju said eagerly. "Could...um... Could you take me with you...to the colony?!"

"Juju! The people here need us!" Sharla raised her voice with a hint of authority in her voice, "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"But you heard! The Mechon attacked Colony 9! That means a load of them have left Colony 6 already! It has to!"

Sharla was taken a bit back by this, and I couldn't bear to watch two siblings fight. Whenever this happened with my cousins, I was dragged in the middle of it and it wasn't fun for me. Either way, we were going to get dragged into this, whether I liked it or not, so I quietly walked away, not leaving any sound as I did. It was a weird thing for me to walk around without making much of a sound as I did, but it did help me when I needed to be alone. Once outside, I went over to the buggy and leaned against the vehicle, taking a deep breath of the calming breeze. The forest made a good cover for the camp, and the night sky was pretty nice for the night. Star twinkled in the sky as I couldn't see anybody else coming from the forest back to the cave. Sure it was bit cold for my liking, but I still kept myself warm with my jacket and keeping my hands inside the pockets of my jacket.

"This world is so weird..." I whispered to myself. "And now it looks like-!"

My eyes widen as a flash of white light blinded me as I found myself back into a vision of some kind.

* * *

><p><em>Looking around, I saw Juju running towards the buggy and getting inside with anger in his eyes. He mumbled something that I couldn't hear before he drove off. Footsteps came behind and I saw Sharla, Reyn and Shulk running before stopping.<em>

* * *

><p>Everything returned to normal as I heard the grass moving nearby. Juju was coming, and inferring to my vision from earlier, he was going to run off. I didn't think he noticed that I was there until he looked up once he was close enough to the buggy. When he did see me however, I freaked him out a bit before he calmed down, seeing that it was me. Juju reminded me of a younger cousin I knew back on Earth, since he would always argue with his older sister before going off. The funny thing was I was usually the one to get him to calm down the quickest, so I usually went after him once the fight was over. Sharla also reminded me of his older sister, which made me smile in my mind. Since both Sharla and Juju reminded me of my family back home, I couldn't just let him go off on his own.<p>

"Where do you think you're going Juju?" I asked him as he got into the buggy. "You know, it's not good going alone by yourself at night. You could get killed."

"I know, but I need to go to Colony 6 right now," Juju answered back with a bit of a dark tone in his voice. "And I won't be a coward like the rest of them."

So I couldn't convince him to stay. Well, time for Plan B, regardless if Shulk and Reyn liked it or not. Though I'd also be breaking the promise I made to Dunban, but this kid was going to get himself in danger one way or another. "Sometimes," I began, "being a coward is the best option in a situation, whether you like it or not. But since I'm not going to allow you to go off by yourself, I'm coming with you."

"Wait, what?!"

"Yep, you heard me," I asserted. "I'm coming with you. Besides, even though I did promise a friend of Shulk and Reyn's that I'd watch over them, I can't allow any kid to go off alone. Plus, I think you'll need some defense as you have no weapon."

"I do have one, see?" He held up his gun in the air ad I sighed.

"Yes, but I'm still coming, and you aren't stopping me."

"...Fine, get in."

I happily pulled myself onto the buggy and got in. "Alright, drive away Juju!"

Juju nodded and started up the engine and we made our way towards Colony 6.

* * *

><p>The drive was pretty nice as we dodged many monsters on our way to Colony 6. The grassy plains were calm as with the monsters about. Juju was very skilled at driving his buggy through the plains for a kid his age; I still wasn't ready to drive a vehicle yet. Even though Shulk had visions and stuff he could use, I trusted him to know where we were heading towards and since I had fighting experience it shouldn't be any problems while we were there. The night went by, and we managed to get to a bridge as the sun was starting to climb up into the sky. It was going pretty well...until we ran straight into a barrier, sending us towards one side of the bridge, crashing into it. The impact was rough on both of us, but I managed to hold on and keep myself from getting too beaten up.<p>

"Ow!" Juju exclaimed in pain.

"Argh! Stupid barriers..." I mumbled before looking at Juju. "You alright?"

"Yeah...but I can't say the same for the buggy..."

"Ok, let's get out and see the damage."

Both of us exited the buggy and turned back to check the damage. To our dismay, the buggy was in terrible condition, so bad that it was stuck.

"Come on! Who put this barrier in the way?" Juju stared at the buggy before letting out a huge sigh. "Oh, now the front suspension's all twisted up!"

I turned back towards the other side of the bridge and looked back at Juju. The pathway looked clear and no Mechon or monsters were up ahead, so maybe we might get through this place without fighting Mechon. That would be unless we got closer to Colony 6.

"Look's like we're taking the long way... Though I do wonder how Shulk and Reyn are doing," I remarked. "Eh, they can take care of themselves. Now let's get going. I want to see what Colony 6 is now."

Juju nodded and we started to make our way to Colony 6. We didn't see any Mechon or anything else as we walked down the beaten path. There was still vegetation around, but no monsters were anywhere in sight. Because the Mechon were in that area, I deduced that these Mechon either killed or drove off the native monsters of that area just for themselves. He stayed close to me as I did with him. Mechon could pop up at any second, and we didn't want to get ambushed so easily by them. Juju lead the way to a rock path, and we both walked up it, looking for any signs of the Mechon. It didn't like any were nearby, but just then, the ground started to shake, catching both of us off-guard. Suddenly, Mechon tentacles things shot up from the ground before turning towards us.

"Wh-what is that thing?!" Juju stammered in fear.

Before either of us could reply, the two of the tentacles shoot out at us. I moved Juju out-of-the-way of one of them, but the other one grabbed me, pulling me up into the air dangling. I was defenseless now as Juju panicked, seeing it ready to strike at us. Another one grabbed him as well, and we both screamed as loud as we could. The Mechon came up from the ground, and terror gripped us both. It started to wave us around and I felt that this is how I was going to die by being devoured by a machine. Suddenly, my headache came back and it was worse; everything was getting darker as my consciousness was fading away. My eyes closed as the last thing I saw were more tentacles ready to devour us both.

* * *

><p>My killer headache woke me up, but not where I thought I'd wake up. The place where I woke up wasn't where I fell unconscious. There was no Mechon, no rocky platform and certainly no danger that I could see. I woke up by the sound of rumbling, and apparently looking down at the ground, my bracelet was reacting to something. Trying to get my headache to lower down, I gazed up to see Shulk staring right at me.<p>

"Neetz, you're awake!" Shulk exclaimed helping me stand straight. "We thought you were gone, along with Juju here."

It seemed like we were in some like of elevator lift thing going out from someplace I didn't recognize. Just how long was I out? I couldn't linger on those questions for the moment as the rumbling continued, like a huge earthquake of some kind.

"Shulk… Care to lower your voice down a bit?" I asked as I grabbed my sword–which just transformed into the weird-looking one–as the rumbling continued. "Besides, I think someone's going to be back for a fight."

"Your sword!"

"Can we focus on the huge Mechon over there?!" Sharla asked, pointing her rifle at it. It was a faced Mechon with a bronze face and a hammer, but not the Mechon Shulk and Reyn were hunting for. Oddly, its Mechon armor was corroded with green liquid and aura, and the blue electricity showed signs of malfunction.

"Not him again!" Reyn exclaimed in frustration.

"A friend of yours, Reyn?" I asked.

"No, just a faced Mechon named Xord that would not give up," Sharla replied. "He's the one who kidnapped both you and Juju."

"I see… Now I think it's time to get revenge!"

"Neetz, I want you to guard Otharon and Juju from Xord," Shulk averred, looking over at me. "We'll handle Xord."

"But I deserve to kick this Mechon's butt for what it did to Juju and me!"

"Neetz, we need you to guard them, alright?" Sharla asked, looking back at me. "Besides, I don't think you're in the best condition to fight."

"So be it..."

Both Otharon and Juju backed up as well. I got in front of them, ready to guard and attack when needed to. I didn't fight that much despite how I wanted to get revenge upon it, but then again, I still had that major headache that would not go away. Staying by Otharon and Juju, I kept sniping from far away to protect them. Xord kept swinging the hammer in long swings, trying to get us. Shulk, Reyn and Sharla activated a chain attack as I kept back. Soon enough, it looked like he was done, but he dragged himself across the platform ready to strike the three. Luckily, Sharla had her rifle ready and blasted off the arm holding the weapon. It then began to mumble to itself as I also approached it on Shulk's side.

"Got to hand to you, boy..." Xord spoke to Shulk between pant-like sounds. "You beat me without even releasing the true power of the Monado."

"True power?" I asked, looking at Xord.

"And you…Outsider… You've only scratched the surface of your power..."

"Outsider?" Shulk asked, before shaking his head and pointing the Monado at Xord. "What do you know about the Monado?"

"Sorry, boy... I can't tell you that... You'll have to find out the truth on your own. Same with you, Outsider."

"The truth?"

"When I became what I am now...that's when my eyes were opened. Was a good ride while it lasted..."

"When you became like this? What do you mean?!" I demanded him until the remains of Xord's jet engine spewed out, causing us to back away. Xord started to slowly push himself away to the edge of the elevator.

"Time's up, pipsqueaks. I'm gone!" Xord uttered.

"Xord!" Shulk yelled.

My eyes widened as Xord threw himself down the shaft. Even though Shulk was confused on the Monado, I couldn't believe that the Mechon called me an Outsider. Did the Mechon know that I wasn't from Bionis? That I wasn't a Homs, but a human? What did it mean I haven't even begun to use my full power? The thoughts didn't leave my mind as I wanted to, but then the group is going to be asking who the Outsider is...and then I will have to tell them.

"Get back!" Reyn ordered us, pulling me and Shulk away from the edge.

The shockwave from Xord's explosion brought me back to reality as the lift started to work again and not too soon, as the explosion was chasing after us. Once we got to the outside, all of us ran as fast as we could. I helped Otharon run as Reyn carried Juju over his shoulder. The explosion finally came and sent us all falling into the ground as the rain poured down on us. I really hated that when I had no umbrella or was inside to keep myself warm, but this felt...refreshing somehow. It felt like justice had been served and these were tears of joy for some odd reason. We all turned back and saw the large smoke coming out. Sharla was with Reyn as he placed Juju against a stone wall.

"We smashed that bronze idiot," Reyn looked up to Sharla. "Now the people of Colony 6 can rest in peace."

"Yeah," Sharla answered back, smiling a bit.

I didn't pay attention to the rest of what the group was talking about. My mind was wrapped about Xord calling me an Outsider. It was too soon to come to conclusions, but if they knew something about why I'm here or what's this bracelet's all about, I needed to get answered from them. The thought of them all making the connection crushed my heart because if Shulk and the others truly knew, what would happen then? I couldn't bear to tell them, or at least not until I had answers.

"Neetz... Are you ok?" Juju asked me, bringing me back to reality.

I looked down at him and saw the pain in Juju's eyes. I reflected how I failed to protect him, but it still reminded me on how that one cousin of mine would always look at me like that, never taking his eyes off of mine when I was upset. Taking a deep breath, I knelt down to his level, trying to control my emotions.

"Juju, I'm sorry for not keeping you safe," I frowned, saying that before looking up at him smiling, "but you're a brave young child, much more than what I was when I was your age. Don't ever lose that bravery, but don't be too reckless with it either, alright?"

"Yes! I won't get reckless, Neetz!"

"Neetz, are you alright?" Reyn asked as I stood up. "You really had us worried back there."

"I… I'm fine," I replied as calmly as I could. "Sorry for worrying you guys."

"Don't do that again, alright?!" Shulk asked worriedly.

"Of course, but I'm still wondering... You're after the Mechon with the Metal Face, right? I'm kind of curious as to why he didn't show up here. But then again, Xord was here as well."

"But one thing struck me as odd... He called one of us an Outsider, but...we're all either from Colony 6 or Colony 9 right?" Sharla asked, looking at all of us. "Doesn't that mean one of us is hiding something?"

"Well, if that's true, the only person that would be considered an Outsider is-!"

"Hope I'm not interrupting!" a metallic voice echoed from behind us.

My eyes widened in fear as I stepped back, seeing the one called Metal Face, as Shulk quickly nicknamed, fly up and onto the grassy road. His huge Mechon body terrified me as I couldn't pull my face away from his red eyes. His stitched-like mouth and taunting jaw reminded me of creepy robots. The long, metal blade fingers kept my mind flashing images of everybody here dying from those blades. The cannon upon its head were enormous and upon its abdomen was the engine allowing him to fly. The vision of Metal Face back in Colony 9 stopped my heart, as now I saw how Metal Face's blade claws were soaked in blood… Fiora's blood? My mind refused to believe it, but Shulk and Reyn did. And when it looked at me, there was only one thing to say, and he said it.

"Well, look who we have here... The Outsider!" Metal Face announced.


	6. Chapter 6: The Unfinished Battle

**Metal Face… That is all I'm saying…**

Chapter 6: The Unfinished Battle

As Metal Face flew above us, we all panicked seeing Mechon dropping down from the sky around us. Some were just the normal Mechon, and others were the bulky ones like Xord.

"Not just him!" Reyn exclaimed as we got our weapons out. "A whole bunch! And tons of 'em look like Xord!"

Even as the rain poured down, and the sky was darkened, Metal Face needed none of those things to frighten me. I knew he looked right at me when he said Outsider. They knew something about me, but I couldn't bring out my voice as he flew and landed down on the grassy path. When he landed, the ground shook as dust came flying up into the damp air.

"Pathetic!" Metal Face yelled in his creepy voice. "After all that talk, Xord was crushed by worthless maggots like you."

"Oh, this one can talk 'n' all!" Reyn scoffed.

"I can talk all right...and I got a good memory! 'Fiora! Get outta here! Get out!'" His evil laughter terrified me as I could imagine the pain that Fiora must have felt along with what the others had felt. Deep inside me, I felt fury and anger at how this Mechon... What's the word? That Mechon, Psychopath, Metal Face could act like that in front of Reyn and Shulk? "Her screams were music to my ears...as my claws slid right through her soft flesh...like a hot knife through butter! Ha ha ha ha!"

His movements conveyed that he loved killing the Homs; he enjoyed hearing and feeling every last ounce of their flesh being cut up by his claws! Wait a minute... How can a Mechon made up of metal feel things? Maybe I should talk to Shulk about it later, after I recover from this panic attack. Shulk was getting really angry at how Metal Face was talking about Fiora, how it was nothing to him. The anger activated the Monado as I could feel his anger reach me. A tingling sensation shot up through my right arm as my bracelet was started to react to this. My instincts had me reaching for the Junk Sword, but nothing changed the sword at all. I didn't know what was going on with my bracelet now, but this sick Mechon had to pay for all those he had killed!

"Talk all you want..." Shulk growled as he got ready to fight, "because those words...WOULD BE YOUR LAAASSST!"

I could do nothing as he ran towards Metal Face, fueled by anger. That Mechon wasn't like the others, and overhearing that the Monado didn't work on Xord until the previous fight, Shulk was going to get himself killed if the Monado couldn't harm that thing. The Monado clashed against the blades of Metal Face and the force sent Shulk back like he was nothing at all. The red marking on his body had an eerie feeling to them, like I somehow knew what it was, but I couldn't even recall seeing it before this point.

"The Monado? Heh, it's been a while," Metal Face grinned, moving his claws. "But you should know by now. The Monado can't stop me!"

Shulk was sent flying back towards us by the claws, and my fear was broken as I ran fast to catch him. Just them, my bracelet reactivated, allowing me to time-wrap once again to catch Shulk. It just gone back to before Metal Face sent Shulk back. I managed to grab him before he fell down to the floor, but the force of the blow sent both of us sliding against the earth. I was mainly taking the damage as Shulk was on top of me.

"Neetz! Shulk!" Reyn yelled running over to us as mainly I was in pain. Reyn looked back at Metal Face with anger. "I'm gonna-"

"Shulk... Are you alright?" I asked, pushing him up with Sharla help. Pain shot up through my back. "Owch!"

"Neetz! What were you thinking?" Shulk demanded.

"What? Did you really think I'd let you do that?" I chuckled a bit, before feeling more pain. "Besides, you got a score to settle with the Metal Face with two horns coming his head…like a bunny or ram."

"I am not an animal, you stupid girl! Anyway you slice it, the Monado ain't gonna work, boy!" Metal Face taunted looking at us. "Didn't work then, won't work now! And not even the Outsider can change anything now!" The claws moved as we all stared at that Mechon angrily. "Now, time to cut you down to size!"

Sharla helped me us as Reyn did with Shulk. Metal Face's claws were raised, ready to cut us down to size when a blast from some gun was shot, catching the Mechon off guard.

"What?!" Metal Face exclaimed by the blast, turning his head to the right.

All of us looked up towards where the shot was fire, but I couldn't seem to tell who it was at all. I think the others knew who it was though. My eyes widened, seeing a guy with a sword running down the slope like it was just a straight forward path. Was this guy saying 'Screw gravity, let me have my moment of being the hero?' The man sliced two Mechon, destroying them with just a swing of the sword for each. When he stopped, my eyes widened seeing who that was. Turning around, I knew exactly who had helped me once, and he was back to help us again.

"Dunban!" Shulk and I exclaimed, standing up fully.

"How did you...?!" Reyn stuttered, trying to ask him as we were all in awe. Not only Dunban ran down the slope, but he sliced two Mechon with ease!

"Sorry to have kept ya," Dunban answered back like a true man should have, since he was wearing something of gentleman's clothing to me as he had the sword over his shoulder. "Looks like we were just in time."

We didn't have any second to spare as the Mechon were ready to attack us as another man slid down the slope to join the fight with us. Shulk told me the one with the bandana was Dickson, a good friend of Dunban's. Shulk had Dunban and I team up as Dickson took Sharla and Reyn to fight the smaller Mechon.

"Shulk, what's the plan?" I asked with my blade attacking a Mechon.

"We need to take out the smaller ones before we go after Metal Face," Shulk replied, slicing another Mechon. "Can you keep up the fight until then?"

"Yeah. Let's get some payback!"

We charged at a group of Mechon, and I felt the burning passion to fight inside of me. My blade went through the Mechon armor with ease, and with the help of Shulk and Dunban, the fight was going fast for us. Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught a glimpse of Dickson looking at me, but the emotions in his eyes weren't easy to find out. I had to get back to the fight, so my mind focused back to the main point of the battle. The fight was going well, but I felt like something was wrong with Dunban, and I couldn't tell why I had that feeling. It didn't matter once we defeated the last small Mechon.

Our energies were fading fast, and I knew this fight wasn't going to go in our favor if this kept going. Both groups reunited as more Mechon were coming and surrounding us. My headache was slowly coming back and getting worse, but I had to focus on the fight regardless.

"There's no end to them," Reyn panted, backing up towards us after destroying a Mechon. "Where are they coming from?"

"I can take the smaller ones," Sharla stated, loading her rifle, "but the rest'll be like fighting Xord over and over!"

"If only the Monado would work on these things!" Shulk yelled, and I could see how frustrated he was.

Dunban was blocking an attack from another Mechon as his head whipped around hearing what Shulk said. "Focus, Shulk!" he yelled back.

"Look out!" Reyn cried out, tackling Shulk to the ground as a Mechon swung its blade at them, barely missing the boys.

"Reyn!" Sharla screamed, shooting a few bullets at the Mechon, disabling it for the time being.

Metal Face just laughed at us, and I looked over at him as I was slicing through another Mechon to help Dunban. All I saw within him was some Mechon needed to learn his place, regardless of what he might be in terms of rank. "Look at you all," Metal Face mockingly stated.

"Look at this, metal brain!" Dickson fired a huge shot at Metal, who simply blocked it with his metal hand.

"That it, grandpa?"

Dickson let out a huge sigh. "Argh, running out of ideas here."

I saw the fury in Dunban's eyes looking at Metal Face. As we both killed another Mechon, I saw him turned towards Metal Face and charged right at him.

"You may be able to block a projectile," Dunban stated, dashing pass Dickson and jumping into the air, "but let's see if you can block this!"

Metal Face's blades blocked the sword attack with ease as I felt that something might happen to him. Without any other ideas in mind, I ran towards Dunban as Metal Face chuckled at him.

"Tell me," Metal Face taunted, "how does it feel to be such a pathetic hero?" he emphasized the last two words.

"Dunban!" I cried out as I managed to catch him once Metal Face flung him away. Looking at Dunban, I noticed that his right arm seemed to be in pain for whatever reason. Then the thought came bursting into my head. Is Dunban crippled in his right arm? I glared back at Metal Face a Dunban held his right arm in pain.

"You ok, Dunban?" Shulk asked, finishing off a Mechon. Another Mechon approached him, forcing Shulk to focus his new opponent.

"Aw, does it hurt?" Metal Face taunted with a grin, looking at Dunban and me. "I bet it does." Now both Dunban and I were glaring at the twisted Mechon known as Metal Face. Now I could clearly see why both Shulk and Reyn were after this one to kill it. "It hurts...because the Monado won't work for a bunch of loser...LIKE YOU!"

I was going to ask the stupid Mechon about if he was insane to say that he was more worthy to wield the Monado than Shulk was, but when his claws raised up, I knew we had to dodge. We both went to our left, dodging the blades as the pierced the ground without any resistance.

"Just what are you?" I asked Metal Face, determined to find out.

"Save it, I ain't interested to talk to somebody like yourself," Metal Face replied. "You little maggots need to learn when you've been stepped on!" Metal Face raised his claws into the sky as the cannon overhead began charging what looked to be a cannon blast, and I knew it was going to be aimed for us.

"That light…" Dunban mumbled to himself before turning towards Shulk asserting. "Everyone! Fall back, now!"

"Won't change a thing! I'm gonna wipe you out once and for all!"

It was almost done charging and my eyes widened, seeing the cannon aiming right at us. There was no way we would survive this blast unless we could reflect it somehow, but I couldn't do anything to change this! Not even my time-wrap may not work! Just before it was released, Metal Face jumped back away from green electrical energy striking a Xord-looking Mechon.

"What the-?!" Metal Face exclaimed in shock. All of us looked up to see something flying in the air, but I couldn't tell what it was. It roared aloud as it circled back towards us. My eyes widened as I felt one word pop into mine: Telethia... I didn't know why, but I didn't have to ask as Metal Face answered it for me. "A Telethia?!"

It flew down a few feet, but not all the way down as the green lightning struck all the Mechon expect for Metal Face, who was pretty quick despite his size.

"Now's our chance!" Shulk yelled, jumping onto Metal Face and reading to strike him.

"Shulk!" I cried out, still holding Dunban.

I saw the Monado leave a deep cut into the armor. Metal Face turned around, obviously not happy. Was Shulk crazy? The twisted Mechon even said that the Monado can't kill him! Is Shulk truly that enraged by the Mechon that he doesn't consider those simply facts?!

"You'll pay for that!" Metal Face grumbled at Shulk. "How are you-?!" Metal Face then started to yell out in pain, much to my surprise. Ok, Mechon like Metal Face can feel pain! That's a new one. Shulk keep the blade going as deep as it could go until Metal Face had enough of Shulk's attack. "Enough of this!" cried Metal Face, sending Shulk away as the Telethia flew off. "You got lucky, brat! Next time, your head is mine!" The Mechon then flew off, holding the wound.

"You're not getting away!" Shulk yelled, giving chase after Metal Face.

"Get back here!" Reyn roared at the Mechon as he followed Shulk.

Both Dunban and I knew that wasn't to go well, so we had to stop them. By that time Dunban could stand firmly, we ran towards the two as the Mechon flew off.

"Shulk! Reyn!" I called out as my sword returned to normal.

"Let it go, you two!" Dunban asserted the boys. Luckily for us, the two stopped, watching the Mechon flying off into the distance. The rain still poured down over what had just occurred.

"You've got to be kidding!" Reyn turned around with anger. "He's the one who killed Fiora!"

Dickson was kneeling down using his weapon as support and Dunban looked down, a bit sadden. I knew what they felt, but I still kept what I knew of situations like these, and how I knew the best way–to me–on how to handle them.

"Are you two even thinking straight?" I asked the boys; my sword returning to normal as Dickson got up. "Your anger may be justifiable here, but can't you see what the facts are ahead? I know you want to get revenge on him for killing Fiora, and I can't blame you. Even though I barely even knew her, I can tell she didn't deserve to die... But that doesn't mean you two can just run off to get yourselves killed, trying to kill Metal Face! If you two keep being as reckless as you are right now, then we're all done for!"

I was on the verge of tears as I took a deep breath. My sword was back away from my hand as I looked both of them with the emotions I felt in my eyes, trying to convey what I meant. Dunban noticed how close I was to breaking, and he looked at both boys.

"Know your limits. We'll get another chance, but now isn't the time," Dunban asserted as I looked away, trying to hide my tears as I calmed down. I heard Shulk reply with a grunted 'Fine' as he deactivated the Monado. I didn't focus on the rest of the conversation as I knew Metal Face called me the Outsider. Well... I knew I couldn't avoid the question for long, so I had to think of when and where I could tell them all the truth. If I had to answer to that now of all times...things might get ugly.


	7. Chapter 7: The Next Plan of Action

Chapter 7: The Next Plan of Action

Once everything calmed down, our groups reunited to catch up as the rain kept pouring down on us. By that time, I pulled my hoodie over my head to keep any more raindrops hitting the back of my neck, and my bangs moved to cover the sides of my face.

"I thought it was you," Otharon smiled, looking at Dickson with his arms crossed. "Nice to see you, Dickson."

"It's been a while, grandpa," Dickson smirked. "One year if my memory hasn't left me... Good to see that you haven't kicked the bucket."

Otharon chuckled as he lowered his arms to his sides. "Put a sock in it."

"Wait... Dickson? Dunban?" Sharla asked, pointing at each one as she said their names. "You're the heroes who risked your lives a year ago, in the battle to defend the colonies."

Dickson walked up to her and inspected her, which unnerved Sharla. "What's a pretty young lady like you doing hanging around with this bunch of slackers? Neetz makes sense since she's looking after Shulk and Reyn, which I thank you for that."

"O-oh, it's nothing," I replied shyly. "It's not too bad..."

"Dunban, Dickson, thanks for helping out back there," Shulk smiled.

"I don't believe we did anything," Dunban replied honestly, shaking his head.

"He's right. Save your thanks to that giant bird," Dickson stated.

"What was that thing?" Shulk asked before he looked at me. "Neetz?"

"A Telethia..." I muttered to myself thinking as to why that name could have come to mind if I never saw the creature before.

"Neetz? Are you alright?"

I snapped my senses, looking at Shulk. "Huh? Oh, sorry, Shulk... Kind of got lost in thought..."

"That bird was a Telethia," Dickson replied, looking over to Shulk. "A mystical beast that protects the sleeping Bionis." Dickson put his right hand on his chin. "Though, I've never heard of one venturing down to where us Homs live. Strange..."

"A Telethia. So that's what it's called," Dunban stated.

"A mystical beast that protects the Bionis," Shulk echoed.

I had a strange feeling that this Telethia hadn't come alone, but I couldn't come to any conclusion as to why I thought this.

Dunban turned to face Shulk and asked, "So, what's your plan from here? Follow that metal-faced machine, I presume?"

"What else? He's going to pay for what he did to Fiora," Reyn replied with a challenging feeling to his voice.

Dunban put his left hand on his chin. "Well then, there's only place he'd go: Galahad Fortress in Sword Valley. A year ago, those things were building a huge fortress, right in the valley. Tactically, it's an excellent location to launch attacks from. I feel there's a strong chance they've now finished building it." He lowered his left hand. "That would explain why both colonies were attacked recently."

"Sword Valley... The very place where we made our last stand one year ago," Otharon thought back to those past memories of the war.

"So it's settled," Reyn decided. "Bash down a fortress and smash some metal brains!"

"Reyn...it won't be that easy," I said, speaking up at him. "Remember, we have nothing that can pierce or even harm Metal Face's armor yet. Unless there's some way to power up the Monado that way, you boys will be running towards your own graves."

"Neetz has a point," Shulk agreed. "And speaking of cutting Face armor, there's somewhere else I need to go first."

"But what can be more important than..." Reyn's voice trailed off when he remembered Shulk's foresight. "Wait... You saw another one," Reyn stated instead of questioning it.

Shulk nodded as Dickson and Dunban were obviously confused, and I couldn't blame them. "Saw what? What are you on about?" Dickson asked the boys.

Thus began Reyn, Shulk and I explaining to both older men about Shulk's visions. I only said what I needed to, and luckily nobody went talking about the Outsider or the men seeing my bracelet, now hidden beneath my jacket sleeve.

"These visions sound pretty handy. Well, out with it. What d'ya see?" Dickson asked, looking at Shulk.

"I was somewhere...very high up," Shulk began, trying his best to explain the vision. "I was fighting at a peak of a huge tower... Fighting Metal Face. I heard a voice...and then the Monado's power was unleashed. His armor instantly gave way. The Monado doesn't work on Metal Face at the moment, but if that vision comes true..."

"You'll be able to defeat Metal Face and any faced Mechon, correct?" I asked him, and he nodded.

"A tower, huh? Doesn't give us much to go on," Dickson thought, putting back his right hand on his chin to think.

"Can you remember anything else from your vision?" Sharla asked Shulk as he tried to recall.

"I remember...a huge horn," Shulk replied after he had a moment to think before his eyes widened. "That's it! As I fought Metal Face, I could see the Bionis' head."

Dickson thought for a few moments after what Shulk said, trying to figure out where Shulk was meant to be. "Prison Island," Dickson answered.

"Prison Island?" Sharla asked, taking the question right out of my mouth.

"I've never been, but I've heard of a black tower at the head of the Bionis. They say it was built by the ancient High Entia race."

"The High Entia are real?" Shulk asked, obviously surprised. "I thought they were a myth!"

"I wouldn't blame you, son. An ancient race living on the top of the Bionis head? It does sound crazy. But Bionis is home to all kinds of different people, not just us. That includes the High Entia."

The High Entia? An ancient race living on Bionis... Could these people have any ideas as to how I got here, what's with this bracelet, and how I could get back home? This was defiantly one thing I needed to look into.

"The High Entia, huh? I dismissed them as folklore as well," Dunban confessed.

"Never assume anything. Seeing is believing right?" Dickson stated.

"Have you ever met one?" Shulk inquired.

"Well, yeah."

"Wow! Dickson, man, you're just full of surprises!" Reyn exclaimed.

"What can I say? I'm well traveled." Dickson turned around with a small grin. "Heh, and it's all your future. Day and night, I've searched for new lands, met new cultures...and gained knowledge for own people. The life of a wandering old fool. A lonely one at that."

Dunban chuckled a bit. "Stop your whining," Dunban smiled. "You do it 'cos you enjoy it. And you make a tidy profit."

Dickson turned around and pouted. "Who asked you, Dunban?"

"Well then, Shulk, what's it to be?" Dunban asked, turning to Shulk.

"We'll head there," Shulk decided this plan.

"There are alternatives. We could abandon the colonies, find a place the Mechon will not discover and live in secret."

"...Dunban, can I just point out that these Mechon will hunt us, down regardless of what we do?" I asked looking at him. "We can't run from the Mechon."

"Yeah, we must fight on," Shulk answered back.

Dunban nodded, "I see... Then I am obliged to join you."

"You want to come with us?" Shulk gasped, so did the others.

"Scared I'll get hurt?" Dunban smirked with confidence.

"No way! We know you're stronger than anything! Right, Reyn?"

"You bet!" Reyn exclaimed happily.

"I've recovered a great deal since we last met," Dunban stated, "and that miserly old coot over there made me this." He tapped his new sword on his right side. "Sharp... Light... Perfect for cutting through steel. Show me a Mechon and I'll slice it in two. I might not be in peak condition, but I'm useful."

Yeah, because of your crippled right arm. I couldn't bring it up since Dunban was joining us, and I didn't mind it at all. Though I did wonder if anybody besides Dickson and I knew about Dunban's arm.

"I can't thank you enough," Shulk thanked with happiness in his voice.

"We're in it together now," Dunban nodded back, curving up his lips.

"You can count on us, Dunban."

"Miserly old coot?" Dickson asked with another pout, looking away from Dunban. "That sword is forged from Mechon armor. It's worth every penny."

"So you keep saying..." Dunban muttered under his breath.

"If you wanna go to the Bionis' head, you'll need a guide to get to the upper regions."

"We're at the bottom, so I guess the only way to go is up."

No ticking play coin, Dunban!

"Right," Dickson nodded, "but we'll need to go up the lower back first."

"The lower back..." Shulk put his left hand on his chin to think.

"Colony 6 is right at the top of the Bionis' leg, so we'll have to head around the waist..." Dickson turned to the location up ahead, "through a place called Satorl Marsh. Follow me."

With Dickson leading the way, most of the group followed him, but in the back with me was Dunban of all people. Juju was with Sharla for the hike there, so I was stuck with the older man for now. Since Dunban was going to be talking to me on the way there, I did so just to pass the time till our next destination.


	8. Chapter 8: Satorl, The Shimmering Marsh

Chapter 8: Satorl, The Shimmering Marsh

Satorl Marsh... How these places keep looking better and better the longer I travel with everybody. The marsh was unlike anything I've seen before. I lowered my hoodie and pushed the bangs out of my face to get a clear look at this place. The misty fog blocked the view in front of us, but I could see the treetops as light blue lights shone down. The glowing orbs went up towards the sky in a calming manner as all natural life was colored in different shades of white to fit the surroundings. My breath was taken away by this one simple view. If the Bionis had any other places like this, I knew that I wasn't going to feel so down around this place.

"I've never seen anywhere like this!" Shulk awed.

"Y'see? This is why I've been saying you need to get out of the lab every now and then," Dickson told Shulk before turning back to face the rest of us. "We're aiming to get inside the Bionis. We can get to the upper regions from there."

"Wow... I never thought about going inside the Bionis," Sharla commented.

"The closer we get to the top, the more monster trouble we're gonna run into. The only things that venture this far in are the Nopon Merchants...and curious types like me."

"You really know all the fun spot, eh, Dickson?" Dunban asked, smirking.

"Heh heh heh." Dickson chuckled. "You wanna get to the top? Then this...is the only way."

"We'll push on, no matter what," Shulk stated firmly with his back to us.

"That's the spirit, Shulk," Dickson smiled proudly.

With that in our minds, we headed deeper into the marsh.

After everybody in the party got a bit more fighting experience from killing Acid Upas, we continued our way and made it to Lacus Swamp, which Dickson named. Now with Juju and Dunban by my side, we were all talking about random things as Dickson and Shulk were leading the way. Just as we got closer to the lake, everybody stopped.

"Everyone, look!" Sharla pointed out. All of our attention was turned towards what looked to be tiny, adorable creatures with another four-legged one stopped in a clear. The tiny round ones were so cute, but I recalled, back in the Refugee Camp and Colony 9, the cute creatures were called Nopons. "It's a group of Nopon."

"Ahh... Some Nopon Merchants," Dickson folded his arms.

"What d'ya think they're up to?" Reyn asked.

"They must be here for a reason," Sharla assumed, placing her hands on her hips. "Let's go and ask them."

"Good idea," Shulk answered with a nod.

We all went over the bridge to the Nopon Merchants as Shulk, Reyn and Dunban went to complete those quests. During that time, Sharla and I sat with the Nopon after buying more equipments for the others. The Nopon were very friendly, and I couldn't be any happier with their speech pattern as it was so adorable. They were just some of the best things to come out from being stuck here, and I didn't mind that. As morning was coming, we all had a nice breakfast–or rather dinner for us–when the boys finally got back. Getting settled with the new equipments, we thanked the Nopon Merchants and continued our travel.

After what seemed to be about half an hour, we all saw a very strange lamp towering over us. It was glowing from a white ball of light, but I noticed how none of the light really blurred out the sphere. How odd...

"This lamp... It has a very strange glow," Shulk pointed out, looking up.

"It's called the Glowing Obelisk. It's a remnant of the High Entia," Dickson stated. "They've hidden themselves away in the upper reaches now, but at one time, they controlled this whole area."

"Good for them," Reyn said as Dickson turned to the group.

"It's the perfect place to get some shut eye. The lamp'll keep the monsters away. We'll be safe if we rest here."

"Finally!" I exclaimed after a let out a huge yawn. "Time for some sleep!"

Both Shulk and Reyn chuckled a bit, but before long I fell asleep around the lamp near Shulk.

_I found myself back into the dream-state as I found a copy of me looking down at a strange Nopon._

_"Locomoco...? What are you doing here?" I had asked the Nopon._

_"Me wanna help Neetz!" he replied, smiling. "Me have lost memories, and you might be key. Me wanna join with Riki!"_

_"Um... Shulk, is it alright if Lokomoco joins us?" I asked, turning to Shulk, who had just popped into the dream just then._

_The scene faded away as I heard a cry, almost like a roar._

_"Lokomoco!"_

I couldn't recall anything after that part of my dream, but it felt different. Somehow, all of us slept in for a whole day, but we were so refreshed and renewed in spirit that we didn't care. The only one not awake was Shulk, and as much as I wanted to, Dickson wouldn't allow me to wake him up. Pouting, I had to wait like the rest of us for Shulk. I simply looked around, trying to keep myself occupied before I do something stupid like scare Shulk awake. To my relief, Shulk woke up a few minutes later and walked over to us as he yawned.

"Finally decided to join us, Shulk?" Dickson turned to face Shulk.

"Sorry, guys. Didn't sleep a wink," Shulk confessed.

"Right then. Time to move on," Dunban stated, looking at Dickson. "How far now?"

"We'll be there soon enough," Dickson replied. "The High Entia ruins are just ahead."

We all looked to where Dickson was looking at. A path was leading up to where our destination would be.

We got to the outside of the ruins without any fog to cover the area; the ruins were still as beautiful and colored like Satorl Marsh. It was amazing to see it in person, and I believed some of us were in awe as well.

"The upper regions are through that entrance," Dickson stated, looking forward and up the ruins. "You gotta go through Makna Forest first. Prison Island is at the Bionis' head, just above Makna Forest."

"It pains me to say it, but this is the point where I turn back," Otharon confessed, looking at us. "I must see to the survivors and I'm also very concerned about Colony 9."

"I understand. Thank you for everything," Shulk replied as Otharon looked down; his face showed to be guilty.

"I might have said a few things I shouldn't have back at the mine. Forgive me."

"No, it's OK."

Otharon stared back at Shulk's face. "I owe you my life, young man. I'll never forget it, Heir to the Monado." Otharon looked at Sharla. "Medic, will you stay with them?"

"I... I want to help Shulk," Sharla answered back. "The Mechon must pay for what they did. And I'm sure Gadolt is still alive somewhere. If he is, I have to find him."

"Find him for me too. Good luck."

"Sharla...I want to go with Otharon," Juju talked to his sister.

"Are you sure?" Sharla asked a bit surprisingly.

"Yeah. I've never seen anything cooler than Shulk smashing Mechon with the Monado! But...I'm just slowing you down."

"Well, I clearly understand what you mean Juju," I smiled, looking at him. "If that's what you think is the best thing you can do right now, then do it."

"Thanks, Neetz."

"Shulk, Reyn, Neetz... Keep Sharla safe for me," Otharon told us.

"Don't worry, we will," I smiled happily.

Shulk then walked over to Dickson. "Dickson, are you leaving too?" Shulk asked.

"The Mechon may be gone from Colony 6 now, but that doesn't mean we've seen the last of 'em," Dickson responded. "When they launch another attack, and they will, Colony 9's gonna need my help."

"Yeah... I guess you're really needed at the colony."

"This ain't the last you'll see of me. You should be alright for now. Look after the Monado."

"You can bet on it! We won't let the colony down."

Dickson smiled. "You'll make us proud, Shulk." Dickson then walked towards where we came from, but then stopped to look at Reyn. "You, on the other hand, need to buck up your ideas! How else are you gonna protect Shulk?"

"Don't worry about that, Dickson," I chimed in. "That's why I'm with them to make sure they're not going to get each other killed."

"Says the one who left with Juju without telling us," Reyn mumbled.

"Well, excuse me, but I couldn't let him go off alone."

"Well then, good luck. See ya," Dickson bid his farewells.

After that, we watched as Dickson, Otharon and Juju left our group, heading back to the colonies. As for the rest of us, we had a long journey ahead of us.


	9. Chapter 8: The High Entia Ruins

Chapter 9: The High Entia Ruins

Of course as I expected, there was a quest that we needed to complete in order to move forward. It was a pain to get them, but luckily Sharla found one of the things we needed. To made matters easier, we all decided to split up to go after the rest. Even though there were five of us, it was decided that Shulk, Sharla and I would go after one as Reyn and Dunban went after the other two. I didn't understand why, but I didn't argue my point out. While we were going after one, I was talking to Shulk for most of the time, since Sharla still didn't like me, and I couldn't blame her. Though the conversation wasn't about much at all, the nagging feeling of the Mechon called me "Outsider" wasn't settling nicely in my mind, and I think Shulk can even see it.

"Neetz, are you alright?" Shulk asked concern. "You're not looking too good."

"So Shulk, I was wondering about something that's been in my mind for quite some time," I replied. "It's...about what the Mechon said about the 'Outsider.' You wouldn't happen to know what they meant, right?"

"Actually...that's the first time I've heard of it to be honest." Shulk rubbed the back of his head. "Of everything I know, I've never come across that term being used, like your bracelet for example."

"Right... But if only we had a book or something that could explain what an Outsider is, or this bracelet for that matter."

"What are you two talking about?" Sharla turned around to look at us, so we stopped away from some enemies.

"Just about what an Outsider is, that's all," Shulk replied. "Not to mention Neetz's bracelet."

"An Outsider, you say? Well... I have heard something like from some Nopon Merchants some time ago."

"Really?! C-could you tell us what they said?" I asked, wanting to know more about it.

"Well, they didn't know much, but they did know that they weren't from the Bionis in any shape or form. They just appeared out of thin air, not having any real reason to even be here. As an Outsider, they could change their appearance and blend into anywhere they went. I've also heard they have unparalleled knowledge about this place."

"Is that so?" I folded my arms to think. Knowledge about this place? Could this mean that this might be some type of media back on Earth? Then if so...this can't be good.

"But I'm not sure if that's true or not," Sharla sighed. "But let's get going and get the last thing for the ceremony."

"Right!"

After collecting all of the items that we needed, we all regrouped and went back to complete the ceremony. The ceremony preparations didn't take us very long, and we all decided to get going. Shulk had the Adulthood Emblem and I took note on how the floor of this place looked. From the one pocket hole in the center of the circle, it had unique black carving of a symbol stretching out, making two circles and a square. Mini circles were there as well. As soon as Shulk placed the Emblem into its socket, we all were surprised at how the black line startled to glow as energy began to course through the symbol. The inner mini circle shoot out black gas as the outer one shoot a white gas some kind. These gases flew above us as the Emblem had a small pillar of blue light shooting straight out into the sky, and as soon as it started, it was gone. I think I was only one confused as this was making no sense.

"Um... Isn't there like some of kind test to get into Adulthood?" I asked, looking into the sky. "Because I don't see how gathering a few items is a so-called test."

"Don't push your luck," Dunban answered back.

Just then from the sky came some kind of multicolor–yet beautiful–bird creature thing. We all got our weapons out to fight whatever the creature was. Deducing that this was our test, it was powerful in its own right, even for a group of five. It knew how to fight a large group though, going after Sharla and me whenever it could. We had to watch our backs as the boys were fighting the creature. The fight was going pretty well despite what we were doing, so as long as we kept our ground, it was going to be fine. Shulk finished off the creature using a Back Slash as it fell to the ground defeated. Some of us got injured, but the wounds weren't too bad. Looking towards the gates, I saw the steps coming from the ground like the ground wasn't even there and forming solid stairs... I think I'm never getting used to this world.

After getting ready and finding out that the floor raised up and nothing else–which was still petty cool, we walked up the stairs to make our way towards the Bionis' Head. Once atop the stairs, we all say a glowing, green lift of some kind waiting there for us. Something wasn't right with it, so all walked over and Reyn investigated it.

"Huh? The lift don't work!" Reyn confirmed as he turned back to us. Shulk walked in to examine the lift.

"Looks like it's been broken for a while," Shulk noted. "We'll have to find another way up."

"Really…? After fighting the creature back there, this is what we get?" I asked, letting out a whine. "Does that mean we're climbing up the whole way?"

"We might have to," Dunban replied, looking up.

"Come on, you can't be serious," Reyn folded his arms. "Why'd someone build a lift that don't work?"

"No complaining," Shulk asserted. "Let's start looking for a place where we can climb up."

"Fine..." I trailed off, giving up.

Looking up as I hung out in the back, I thought of any way for me to get up there besides climbing that whole entire wall way up. I didn't notice that my bracelet was glowing until I was last on climbing up the vines. It was glowing gold again, and the next thing, I knew I was standing atop the ruins from the highest point! Ok... What in the name of Bionis just happened? Looking back, I stood while everybody there acting as if nothing happened as the others were looking at the view. My fear of heights kept me from going close to the edge, but did my Time Warp just send me into the future? As much as I'd like to go find out myself, it wasn't glowing anymore, and bringing the attention of me somehow here wouldn't do me much good. Even though last time, there were two of me, but in the future, I somehow entered this place? I didn't say anything more as we headed deeper inside the Bionis. To my surprise, we didn't get in as Shulk stopped in the front of the entrance.

"Reyn..." Shulk's voice trailed off.

"Ready to go, Shulk?" Reyn turned to face him.

"Yeah, but just hold on a minute."

To my surprise, Shulk went up to Dunban, who I was by since Sharla had her suspicions about me still.

"What is it, Shulk?" Dunban asked.

"It's about the Monado," Shulk answered back. "I'd like to ask your permission to use it a little longer."

"And why's that Shulk?" I asked. "Did Dunban originally use it?"

"Yes, The Monado was originally Dunban's sword." Shulk then faced Dunban again. "But… I need it to achieve my goal...so..."

Dunban chuckled a bit, "Don't sweat it. You are far more skillful at wielding that thing than I ever was. Keep it. It's yours. Besides, I have a new sword. That old coot had the decency to forge this for me." He motioned to his katana. "I owe to him to make the most of it."

"Dunban..." Shulk trailed off.

'Shulk, I think by now seeing how long we've traveled together that you're worthy of wielding the Monado," I said, smiling at him. "I think by now the Monado has accepted you, and you should accept it as well. And don't take my word for it or Dunban's. You just need to believe in yourself Shulk."

"Believe in myself?" Shulk looked confused as he looked down towards the floor.

"Never lying down, never giving up," Dunban added. "That's our pride and strength as Homs. And we have to make sure those metal monsters know it."

Shulk looked back up with a confident smile. "You're right!" Shulk said happily.

"Alright! Now let's get going!" I raised my fists into the air. "This Prison Island isn't getting any closer now, is it? If Shulk is to go there, then we shall!"

Everybody nodded, and with renewed spirits, we entered inside.

**Note:**

**As for Neetz "'sudden jump into the future," she actually didn't jump into the future; rather, her mind blocked out the climb for her as there were lots of arguing which she wouldn't be able to handle. Her bracelet reacted to it to save her from hearing all of that. In short, it just blanked out her mind until the group reached the top.**

**Also, as the story goes on, more of the "Outsider" information shall be reveal. But before you ask, I'll say it now: nobody brought them to this world on purpose. They just appear out of nowhere and nobody knows why. Though as a bit of "joke," I'd like to make this connection: The Bionis is considered a host as the Outsider is a parasite. That's all I'll say for now, and I wouldn't mind you all reviewing! It really helps me a lot! Anyway, I'll see you all later now that I'm back.**


	10. Chapter 10: A Vision of the Face

Chapter 10: A Vision of the Face

I didn't expect this place to be creepy, but then again, these are ruins of some sort, so I guess it needs to be creepy. The first real room we entered had grey grass–or it looked that way–but not only that, we also had green pods lighting up the area and other pods about, giving off the creepy feeling this place needed.

"What is this place?" Shulk asked, looking around.

"It's giving me the creeps," Reyn said, getting into position for anything to jump out and attack us.

"Um, no kidding, Reyn," I replied, looking at the glowing pods.

The pods around reminded me of the alien eggs ready to hatch.

"Hmm... At a guess, I'd say we're inside the Bionis," Dunban thought aloud for us all to hear.

Just then Shulk let out what seemed to be a gasp or just a large breath, though it probably was a gasp.

"What is it, Shulk?" I asked, being a bit concern.

"Oh... Nothing," Shulk replied, obviously hiding something.

"Shulk... It's not nice to be lying, even to your close friends! Come on, you can tell us."

"...It's just that," Shulk let out a sigh while looking at the ground. "It feels like the Bionis isn't really dead."

It isn't dead? Well, I think I got that from all the life that's on this titan, but then again, I could just be thinking that a titan's like planet Earth instead of its own being. If Shulk's right about this...does that mean it'll start moving? We were all were confused by this statement from Shulk, and I could see why.

"Wait a minute, Shulk," Reyn looked over at Shulk, who still wasn't looking up at us. "If the Bionis starts moving around, things won't look good for us! Let's just keep moving."

"Right," Shulk replied, looking forward.

Not wanting to stand here any longer, we all went deeper inside the Bionis. It was pretty creepy to see this place–according to Shulk–was the Third Lung. Things weren't looking good, and I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. As we climbed higher, we found a pool full of yellow-liquid with a Nopon traveler by it... Please don't tell me what I think it is because if it is what I'm thinking, I think I'm going to be sick, and the fact we're in the hip doesn't help at all! Since we had no other idea on what to do, Shulk went over to ask the Nopon on how we got up higher. That meant we had to go into the liquid and ride it up to the top! Just my luck! As everybody else got into the liquid, I was a bit hesitant to go inside it if it was what I thought it was.

"Is something wrong, Neetz?" Dunban asked once everybody else was inside swimming.

"Am I the only one thinks we shouldn't go inside here?" I asked, looking at them. "It just doesn't look safe-!"

I was cut off screaming as Reyn pulled me into the liquid. It tasted disgusting, and once I reached the surface, I noticed how Reyn was laughing at me, so I spat the liquid into his mouth while I pulled my bangs out of my face. Everybody laughed at this, but since I was finally inside, we started swimming towards the geyser. The geyser wasn't on as we swam on top of it. As soon as the geyser spat us up, I let out a scream as we were shot up. Of course, we all landed safely onto the landing spot, with me landing on top of Reyn for a softer landing. He got mad at me, yes, though I got payback anyway. We all checked ourselves for damage before continuing onto towards our exit. Just as we got towards what looked to be our exit, my headache returned sharply, stopping me in my tracks. Everybody else had stopped but before they could turn around, everything around me faded off.

_I found myself in some sort of area, almost like a cut scene in a game. It showed Metal Face flying off towards what looked to be a base. Then it changed to some sort of chamber...creating a silver Faced Mechon?! I couldn't believe my eyes as I heard voices talking, like in a cut scene! It looked to be a newer one, and the one making it was shrouded by darkness so I couldn't see her identity, but her voice, I could hear crystal clear. The silver Mechon was being assembled, and I had no idea if this was in the past, present, or future._

_"Face Nemesis..." the woman's voice said in awe. "Your frame is complete. All that remains is the soul transfer."_

_Soul transfer? What is going on here? Ok, I saw a female body being placed into the Mechon that I'm certain of covered in armor of some kind, but what is a Homs doing inside one of the Mechon?! This makes no sense! Next, I saw Metal Face flying again, but looking more closely at the injury Shulk managed to do with the Monado._

_"That damage..." the female voice thought aloud. "Does a weapon exists that can melt Face armor? How...?"_

_"Lady Vanea," another younger female voice called out. "Master Egil wishes to see you."_

_"Understood. Tell him I will see him when this Face is complete."_

_"Acknowledged."_

_Looking back at the Mechon, I couldn't step forward as a red glow emitted from it, almost like the energy was the red glow._

_"I have fulfilled my duty," Vanea announced in her monotone voice. "You and only you can bring about a new age on Mechonis,.. No, the entire world."_

_My eyes widened hearing what she said, turning around as the light went down. I saw the figure... A human-no Hom-like shadow. Now, I couldn't believe this. The Faced Mechon... Were they all like this one? A new age of Mechonis? Who exactly are Lady Vanea and Master Egil? But more importantly...why would they even be doing this?!_

_"My Mistress, Lady Meyneth," Vanea addressed Face Nemesis._

_The last thing I saw was the Mechon...offline for the time being as everything around me returned back to normal._

Opening my eyes, I found myself outside the area, seeing the beauty of this new area. That didn't occupy my mind, but rather that vision I just had, or rather a cut scene. This Lady Vanea...had placed a Homs body into a silver Mechon. Ok, things are starting to get creepy around here and I don't like creepy. It was daylight, and everybody seemed to not have noticed that I had the vision. I was pondering if I should tell them this, but then again, I don't think I should as of yet...until I had more proof. Deciding on keeping this to myself until I had more proof, I followed the others as we went down the winding path. We ran down the path, wasting no time until we had a good view on just where we ended up. It was like a toned-down jungle with two spiraling stones in the middle as we heard creatures–or rather monsters–crying out everywhere. It didn't take me very long to feel the sudden change of heat, causing most of us to start sweating.

"Whew... Who turned up the heat?" Reyn panted.

"I've never seen such a dense forest," Sharla confessed, wiping off some sweat from her forehead.

"Me neither. How much further?!"

"This must be the back of the Bionis," Dunban thought aloud before looking out into the distance. "If Shulk's vision is right, we've still got a long way to go."

Wait, if we're on the back of the Bionis...then how are we even-? Neetz, remember this isn't Earth and you have cute, adorable creatures called Nopon that aren't pets. Just go with it, and you'll be fine.

"You mean go on in this heat?" Reyn exasperated. "I'm sweatier than a Brog's armpit!"

"We'll have to search for the best route," Sharla panted out to reply. "Sadly, until we find a way, we'll have to put up with Reyn's stench."

"And I think I'd rather not smell him for the rest of the way up," I walked over towards them, away from Reyn. "I'll have a hard time keeping my nerves if I have to smell this all the time. But if it's until then, I shall try to ignore it as best I can."

"Sharla! Neetz!" Reyn gawked at us, then pouted.

"What? It's true," Sharla and I replied to Reyn at the same time.

I giggled at Reyn as Sharla gazed down from our point, trying to see if we could go anywhere from this point.

"Look over there!" Sharla pointed over towards what she saw. "A rope bridge! It looks Hom-made!"

"Not Homs, Nopon," Dunban corrected Sharla. "Though a lot of them have settled in our colonies, the Nopon are originally native to Makna Forest."

"Do you think they'd know the way to the Bionis' head?" Reyn asked Dunban.

"I can't say. But walking around it circles isn't going to achieve anything. Our best bet is to look for their village."

Though unless you're grinding up levels in games, then that's ok. Being lost, however, is another story. Makna Forest was huge, and seeing the rope bridge didn't help my fear of heights at all, but if I just ran to the other side, then I'd be fine. Going down towards the rope bridge, we found two Nopon. As one had quests for us, the other one was a merchant selling new attire suited for this heat. Other than that, we bought more comfortable clothing for everybody as I was looking around to see the amazing waterfalls by the bridge. I went over there by myself just to see it in peace without having to bother the others. These falls reminded me of the Niagara Falls back on Earth, and I still couldn't believe this existed on a huge stone titan. If I was to ever get home, would I miss this place? I've gotten use to this place for the most part, but the strange feeling in the air was different. Sharla also used what was called Ether to heal us during battle, and I knew nothing like that was on Earth. Since it came from the Bionis, I couldn't help wonder if it was the Bionis' life source helping out the life living on it. It was pretty stupid, but I didn't care really.

My mind went back to the Faced Mechon and how it seemed like there was more than meets the eye on them. The Homs inside it... Vanea talking... All of that wanted me to go on just to get answers. They had no connection to how I got here from what I could tell, but I was still wondering if I could ever go back home or rather...confessing that I wasn't from the Bionis at all...but an-

"Neetz, is something bothering you?" Dunban asked, walking over to me.

"Huh? Oh Dunban... It's nothing at all..." my voice trailed off as both of my hands went behind my back. "Is everybody else ready to go or are we still waiting?"

"Well, Shulk was wondering if you were alright. He's been noticed that you're...thinking a bit too much lately."

"And why hasn't he told me himself then?"

"He doesn't feel comfortable asking you himself."

"Really? After all we've been through?" I chuckled before letting out a breath. "I think I'll never understand those boys..."

"And it looks like Reyn will never get used to you."

"Hey, I was being honest earlier about Reyn's stench; Sharla agreed about it as well."

"I know that, but I do have a question of my own I'd like to ask you."

"Sure... Go ahead."

"What's up with your reaction to Ether? No Homs has the reactions you have."

"...Reactions? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't think you can avoid this question, young lady." Dunban put his left hand on his hip. "I've seen that whenever Sharla heals you, your wounds don't heal over as with the rest of us. It just seals up the wound, and you still experienced pain."

That never came to mind with me, but I think I was too busy in my thoughts and everything else that I was even oblivious to that simply fact. Thinking back, I do recall that whenever Ether was used onto me, my body was still in a numbing pain like my headache. I guess I never thought of it that much, but Homs don't usually have these reactions- Oh crud!

"I... Um..." I uttered, trying to think of the words to say to Dunban. And of course Dunban has to ask me about this! Well at least it's not Shulk or Sharla or I'd be screwed. "You've noticed that...haven't you?" I finally managed to ask, looking away from him towards the waterfalls.

"I don't think anybody's taken that into thought as of yet, but you aren't a Homs, are you?"

"...Alright, you got me, Dunban..." my voice trailed off as I took a deep breath. "But just before I tell you why, I need you to promise me something: whatever happens from here on out, I want you not to tell anybody else about it. I need to prepare myself for that moment."

Dunban nodded. "If you insist, then I won't tell anybody else about it. I am a man of my word."

"...As much as it may sound weird to you...I-I'm not from here at all. I'm from another world entirely," I turned to look at him, to make sure he knew I wasn't lying as I broke down my barriers confessing. "I'm the one the Mechon called 'The Outsider.' I-I didn't think much of it until I made the connection that I came from a planet called Earth and not the stone titan: Bionis. Truthfully...I'm not quite sure how I even arrived here myself. But I somehow ended up by the outskirts of Colony 9, and grabbing the bracelet around my wrist, I found Shulk and the others. That's how the journey began. At first, I thought that by just traveling with the boys, I could return home and everything would be back to normal, but now I see this isn't the case. If I had the chance, I'd go home as soon as I can, but now things seem that I might be stuck here forever. If that's truly the case, then I must continue on in this world and figure out what I'm going to do from here on out. Until I can either find a way home or figure out what I'm going to do with my life if I'm trapped here forever, I will travel with Shulk and the others until the end of the Mechon attacks."

I knew it was a lot to take in, so I turned around holding my hands to my chest.

"Even if you don't believe me," I continued, "I hope you now understand why I react the way I do to Ether..."

"So that's the reason why..." Dunban said simply, putting his left hand on his chin. "Now that explains a lot."

My eyes widened hearing his voice. His tone never changed, and I did not hear anything from anger to shock in his voice.

"Wait... You're not mad?" I asked surprisingly, looking into his eyes. "B-but I thought-!"

Dunban chuckled with a warm smile. "Hey, it doesn't change who are you to the others. I can understand that it's a lot to take in, but you should tell the other soon enough. If you don't tell them soon, you might find yourself in a position that you're not going to be comfortable in. Consider that as we continue in this journey."

"Yeah..." I nodded back. "You're right. I'll tell them soon enough."

We all heard the others coming, and looking towards the Makna Forest, we all had our next point of interest.


	11. Chapter 11: The Mysterious Duo

**And we are back! I'm so sorry for not updating this story for quite some time. It seemed like life had other things for me to do. Anyway, to make up for it, you get 3 whole chapters in one update! I hope this is alright and I'm surprised that you all want me to continue this. **

**Because of you all, I'll try updating this whenever I can, which may end being a week per chapter or something like that. Anyways, enjoy the chapters!**

Chapter 11: The Mysterious Duo

Ok... I think I official hate this forest and its heat. We've been walking through the forest for some time, and even though we finished some quests and found an awesome view of the waterfalls, I hated this heat and Reyn's stench. After confessing to Dunban about being "The Outsider," he took it pretty well, and we got to talk about Earth and little things about the boys. It was very fun when we watched as the boys went to grab items from the thin branches. We were getting along better since I could talk about whatever we liked without worrying much. The only times we couldn't was when the others were around. From falling asleep from enemies and then attacking us, I was getting annoyed at this place.

"Shulk, can we take a break soon?" I looked up to see the sky was already turning dark. "It's getting dark..."

"Why? You weren't bothered by this before," Shulk chucked before I jabbed him with my elbow. "Hey!"

"Excuse me, but unlike you two boys, I'm more concerned on the monsters coming out from the darkness and killing than getting to our destination!"

"Neetz' right," Sharla spoke up. "It's not safe going deeper into the forest during the night hours. We don't have any ideas as to what creatures will come out during the night."

"So, how about we find a place to camp for the night?" Dunban suggested. "Then we'll have dinner and rest till tomorrow."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Reyn nodded.

We began discussing on where to stop for camp, but the heat was really getting to me now. Everybody else had alternate change of clothes or had something to keep them cool, but as for me, I wasn't so lucky. If only I had bought something from the Nopon! Thankfully, I had a flask from Sharla, and the water inside of it was really refreshing. Wiping off some sweat from my head, I looked ahead as Dunban and Shulk were discussing something. My headache was starting to get to me again, so I took another sip of the water and as I swallowed, my eyes gazed towards the road ahead, but the grey among the greenery wasn't normal. The plants still stood, but from the blades of grass to the rocky wall were all grey and had the colors and life drained from the area. Whatever had happened over there had contaminated the area, but what were those two lumps?!

"Hey, is it just me, or are there two things lying in the weird grey area?" I pointed out towards the two. "Wait a second... Are those Homs?!"

It didn't take us any longer to run over to the two on the ground. I followed after Reyn, Shulk and Dunban with Sharla by my side. The two Homs wearing some clothing which I assumed wasn't from Makna Forest. There was a sliver-haired girl wearing more elegant clothing as the young teenage boy by me had teal blue hair with an elegant suit like the girl. His shield rested beside him like his crystal sword. Looking at the girl, I noticed her staff was by her side and how the two weren't going to get up anytime soon. Sharla knelt down to the female and lifted her shoulders, revealing the face. Reyn had lifted the other boy's shoulders, and my vision suddenly saw light brown hair instead of his teal blue hair, but blinking made it vanish. I think I was getting either too tired or something was wrong with my vision.

"These two... What could they be doing out here?" I mumbled to myself, trying to make sense as to why they would be here.

My hands were shaking seeing the two, but a gut feeling made me feel...happy? What the hell? Why am I happy for this?! Mentally slapping myself, I thought I heard Shulk grunt. Glancing his way, I noticed that a faint blue in his eyes faded as he stood up, looking towards the ground. I really was concerned for Shulk, so of course I looked at Shulk and placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Are you all right, Shulk?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it's just another vision... I'm not sure though," Shulk responded as his gazed at the two unconscious Homs. "But first, they need help."

"You're right," Reyn agreed as he picked up the male. "Let's look for someplace safe."

Dunban turned his sights to the area around us as I walked over and grabbed their weapons. If everybody was going to help, I'd at least keep their weapons, and if they were hostile, we wouldn't get into an unnecessary fight. "There," Dunban pointed out after taking a few paces away from us. "I see a clearly under a giant tree. We can easily watch for anything approaching."

"All right, so we'll make camp there!" I chirped happily.

"Okay. I'll carry her," Shulk nodded, now holding the unconscious girl securely in his arms...bridle style.

Aw, how cute! He looks like Prince Charming-! NO! Bad Neetz! Bad! I mentally slapped myself as we went underneath the giant tree. As much as I would find that charming and all, I cannot think about those things. If that happens, things won't go well, but then again, I have to tell the others about this soon. Just my fricking luck with these two probably joining our group.

Getting my mind out of the gutter, the sky was now dark, and seeing how dark in the forest, it was no surprise that I had to help start the fire. Placing the weapons by our other supplies, I got the fire started with Shulk's help after he had laid the girl down. Sharla was doing her job as medic to figure out their condition while the rest of us did our best with other tasks. There are many things that make me think of back home, but lately, I've started to feel and act like I've been here for a long time. Heck, I can even say I did come from Colony 6! Though that was a lie, it still felt that way. My headaches came and went whenever it pleased, which came to be annoying during monster battles for quests and whatnot. For some reason, hearing Shulk and the others call out my name did clear it up. I guess maybe I'll figure that out later.

After some time, I found myself staring into the fire after having a quick dinner waiting for Sharla to call us. I delivered dinner to her, but when I asked when she'd be done, she said she'll call us when she figured it out. I sat not too close to the fire, but close enough to where my hands were warmer than the rest of my body. The fire crackled and lit up the dark forest, making quite a contrast. Pushing out my palms, the lighting make the outline of my bracelet glisten with the yellow hue in its coloring.

It was weird to think that this bracelet is now mine, but it felt so natural for it to be mine. Pulling my hands closer, I wrapped my hand around it and tested to see if I could take it off. Seeing as how I haven't played with it yet, I wasn't sure if it would let me do so. It came off with ease and I held it in my hands, trying to examine it closer. The dark blue was still there as with the golden and white cravings. Whatever this was, somehow it transformed Shulk's Junk Sword into the strange blade that allowed me to Time Wrap and fight. Did this thing have a mind of its own or something? Was it like...a tiny Mechon or something of that nature-?

"Hey, hope I'm not bothering you or anything-!" someone spoke up, tapping my shoulder.

"Eeek!" I screeched.

By instinct, I flinched and the next thing I did was grab the Junk Sword lying beside me and whacking whoever just tapped my shoulder. Hey, if you were deep into thought and that happened, I think you'd understand why I did that.

"Ow! Neetz!" Shulk groaned, holding his head lying in the grass behind me.

"Sh-Shulk?! Oh, I'm so sorry!" I apologized, dropping the sword and getting up to help him as my face heated up in embarrassment. Extending my hand out, he grabbed it and I helped him up to a sitting position as I retook my seat, blushing as I still gripped my bracelet. "I-I... I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" My face was now towards the ground, hiding my blush and embarrassment from him.

"No, it's not your fault. Honestly, I should have approached a bit better," Shulk reassured, still holding where the Junk Sword slammed into his head. "Maybe next time, don't grab something and whack somebody with it unless it's not going to harm the person."

"Hold on, Shulk."

Shulk's confused face was at mine as I got up to go over to Sharla's supplies. As Reyn and Dunban were on watch, I made my way and borrowed some bandages. Returning back to Shulk sat, I placed my finger on his lips before he could protest. Holding the bandages and with the bracelet resting in my lap, I began to at least tie it around his head, seeing a small trickle of blood trailing out. Finishing tying the bandage around his head, I rested back into my sitting position with my hands resting in my lap, holding my bracelet while smiling at Shulk.

"Really now, you didn't need to do-" Shulk spoke.

"Shulk, be grateful I did this for you. If Reyn or Sharla found out that you got hurt by freaking me out, it wouldn't look good for both of us," I calmly clarified for him.

"I guess you do have a point about that."

"So, what did you want to ask me?"

"Oh, it was about your bracelet. Could I see it? We really haven't got the time to get a good look at it."

"T-the bracelet?" My grips onto it tighten as I was starting to get a bit nervous of a reason I couldn't explain, "Sure... Here, take a look."

I held it out to him, releasing all the tension on the bracelet and forcing myself not to break my composure. Shulk took no note of it as he smiled, taking it from my hands and holding it out towards the fire–getting a better lighting of it. I moved to Shulk's side and scooted a little bit closer, trying to see what exactly he was looking at.

"So... Do you get to see these things often?" I chimed in, maybe interrupting his train of thought without looking at hsd face, but rather my bracelet, "Or is this the first time you've seen this?"

"It's... the first thing I've seen this bracelet," Shulk confessed. "But in terms of the design, it looks like something from a Mechon."

"A-A Mechon? The very things trying to kill us?!"

"Yeah, but it's too small to be from any Mechon we've encountered before," The bracelet was now closer, for both of us to see. "But if I could just look inside of this, I think I'll figure out just how it transformed the Junk Sword into the other sword you use."

"Oh right... The thing I seem to not have control of. You know... I really do wonder why I can't just get the sword out whenever I'd like. Sure I did it when I needed it, but other times...it's just a plain accessory; nothing more, nothing less."

"Well then," he chuckled, handing it back to me, "Looks like we'll have to discover its secrets, just like the Monado."

"Heh, I guess you could say that…" I smiled back.

"Hey lovebirds! Are you two just going to sit there or are you coming?" Reyn's voice called out to us, causing both of to blush.

"Reyn!" Both of us yelled in unison as Dunban laughed.

"Not funny, Dunban!" I asserted, grabbing the Junk sword. "Maybe I'll clear you head with a good whack!"


	12. Chapter 12: A Mysterious Encounter

Chapter 12: A Mysterious Encounter

After getting passed the "moment," all of us when to where Sharla was, who had her arms folded looking at the two unconscious Homs. Reyn still had the smirk on his face, but I jabbed him with my elbow as Sharla looked up.

"So, how are they?" I asked, breaking the short silence.

"They haven't sustained any serious injuries, but her condition is far from stable," Sharla motioned over towards the girl.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Shulk asked.

"Her symptoms suggest ether deficiency. It's well-known that Homs are strongly affected by ether levels in the environment. But I've never seen symptoms like this before." Sharla looked at Reyn, who made a thoughtful noise. "A sudden drop in ether content in the surrounding atmosphere causes a reaction. Symptoms range from fatigue to nausea...but these two..."

"But, there's a way to help her right?" I looked at the unconscious girl as I saw how she wasn't breathing normally like the other.

"There is a way, but we're gonna need Water-type Ether Crystals," Sharla unfolded her arms. "I'll load the crystals into a cartridge to shoot from my rifle."

My eyes widened hearing what she just said, but then I processed another way since just shooting a girl wouldn't do us any good unless it's a shot.

"Eh? Y-you're gonna shoot her?" Reyn exclaimed in shock. Both Sharla and I looked at Reyn like he was crazy. Ok, Reyn may be dense at times, but he can't be this dense, right?

"No!" Both Sharla and I corrected him in unison. The boys were startled by this, but I calmed myself down and saw how Sharla just lowered her hand from her face.

"I'll fire them into the air, and the dispersed ether will heal her," Sharla finished off.

Reyn gave a little nervous laugh. "That's what I thought…" was all he said.

"Yeah right," I mumbled to myself. "Like I'm going to believe that..."

"But the problem is the crystals," Sharla grabbed back our attention to the main problem at hand. "We can't just use any old crystal; they must be as pure as possible. This area must have a water source nearby. We should search there first."

"I spotted a waterfall a little way back," Dunban said, thinking. "What do you think, Sharla? Would a waterfall produce pure crystals?"

"I can't think of a better place," she replied.

"Then it's decided," Shulk said firmly. "I'll search for the crystals."

Reyn turned toward him as my eyes widened. "Hey, you're not going on your own!"

"I'll be okay," Shulk said dismissively. "I need you to look after the group. We're short on water, too, so I'll fill up our flasks."

"Hey, good idea-!"

"Shulk? ARE-YOU-CRAZY?!" I blurted out with panicked. "Shulk, it's late, dark and most importantly, we known barely anything about what lurks around here at night?! Listen, I might not be an expert of exploration, but I do know wandering around all alone in a dark forest is not a smart choice!"

I "might" have been a bit overreacting, but once I finished my panic attack, I took a deep breath as I had my hands to my chest. My heart was beating fast and I was obviously red with blush. Closing my eyes seemed the best thing to do, but I look towards the open tent and remembered the nice, fresh air outside.

"Well then," Dunban's voice trailed off. "How about you go with Shulk then? After all, you two lovebirds do need to spend some quality time together," he said while hiding his smirk with his left hand.

"Dunban!" Shulk blushed as I rolled my eyes.

"Let's just get going. The sooner I get fresh air, the better I can keep my temper in check," I grabbed the water flasks. "Because I'd like to whack some sense into somebody..."

As the three laughed at us–which I just ignored all together since I had no romantic feeling for Shulk, we let on our way to get the Water Crystals for the girl. As we were walking, close together and keeping an eye out for any monsters that could be wandering out during this time at night. I bugged Shulk that I wanted something to light up our way there, but then after passing a monster that had us barely out of its line of sight, I accepted the fact we were to walk in darkness to avoid being seen. We walked through the heavy night and I couldn't help but enjoy the cool air that had covered the once hot air. Even though it seemed to be thick, it was better than the constant heat that we experience earlier.

After some time–I lost count after nearly encountering a group of monsters–we were getting closer to the waterfall, now walking down the winding path to the bottom. Neither of us talked too much and I frankly was thinking more about what Dunban said. I knew I was going to tell them sooner or later, so maybe now was "probably" a good time. I was unsure but if I could get that one thing out of the main scheme, things would either get pretty good or bad. Looking up as we made a turn, the beauty of the night sky's twinkling lights brought me back to being on the Bionis, a place unlike anything back home. If I ever return home, I'd look up anything about that could be related to this just to enjoy it once again. I could do so much with what I'll and I have experienced here. When we reached the bottom, I smiled looking up into the sky.

"This is truly a stunning place," I mumbled before noticing that Shulk was chuckling at me. "What?!"

"Oh nothing, it's just that..." His voice trailed off before he shrugged it off. "Never mind, it's not important."

"Shulk, you know you've made me more curious." I followed him towards the Water Ether Crystals deposit, "What were you going to say?"

"I said it's nothing. Fill the flasks for me, will you?"

"But Shulk! I... Fine," I accepted and went to fill the flasks. Getting as close as I could, I filled them up and closed them tightly so no water could be leaked from it. As I turned around, my eyes widen seeing something by the pathway we came from. I couldn't recognize what it was, so I slowly tip-topped over to Shulk, who by the time I got there was standing up. By that time I could make out the he was a Homs, but a gut feeling told me this guys wasn't like me or Shulk. "Shulk...who's that?" My eyes stuck to the mysterious figure behind him, who looked way too different from anybody else I've seen–well besides his pink-like hair.

Shulk turned around and both of us were on edge, seeing this stranger calmly leaning against the stone wall. I'm not sure if it was by pure instinct, but Shulk got in front of me, and I grumbled and stepped a bit to the side. I'm not some damsel in distress and I don't plan to be one...except for the tentacle Mechon attacked me. I wasn't expecting that.

"Who are you?" Shulk asked, keeping me behind him as I grumbled.

"Shulk, I don't need to have you as my babysitter," I whispered at him.

"Hello there," the man greeted calmly as he walked closer to us. This man was different, and for lack of a better term, creepy in my case. His silver eyes were locked onto us as he calmly strolled over, hands at his sides with a slight smile on his face. Of course, seeing as how he replied, neither of us knew how to respond to that until I uttered it out before Shulk could.

"Um... H-hello, I guess?" I answered uncertainly as he got closer.

Shulk didn't need to ask like my protector for that long as the man began to examine us. Since both of us were nervous we turned to watch him while I backed away from his if he got close.

"How unusual... It's rare to see a Homs…" His voice trailed off seeing me before my heart stopped. No, please no! Don't let this random dude drop the bomb here. I can handle it, but not by a stranger! My hands clenched into fists seeing him before he shook his head. "…Two Homs traveling together, especially in this region," he corrected himself.

My body felt rigid. That tone of voice of his... He knew about me, this random, fricking stranger knew about me. Well, at least he didn't exactly say that was The Outsider. Then things might have gone darker than I needed.

The man knew how I felt, but just laughed quietly to grab Shulk's attention away from what he just said. "I suppose you two are wondering why I am here, in that case," he said. He walked past both of us, and both of us turned our gaze to keep an eye on him, for me now two reasons instead of one. "Then permit me to introduce myself." He placed a hand over his heart and bowed. "My name is Alvis."

"Alvis?" Shulk took a few steps towards him as I stood in place. Something wasn't right about this guy, and I wasn't getting too close in case he did another thing I didn't like. Shulk didn't turn back to check on me, but I didn't care because this guy was doing something with me that I didn't like. "Um... My name's—"

"It's Shulk," Alvis interrupted with a little knowing smile, glancing at him sideways, "and your friend over there is Neetz, am I right?"

Both of us let out a gasp and that made me only approach a little closer. I still kept my distance as my questions of how I got here to how I could get back filled my head, just begging to be answer.

"And you know about us?" I questioned, a little angry in my voice could be noted.

Alvis looked away, his face titled towards the starry night sky. "Wielder of the Monado; Defender of Colony 9. The hero that has every Mechon running." He looked back at Shulk, then, but it indirectly meant for me as well. "You're famous amongst all Homs...and Outsiders as well."

"Outsiders..." I whispered to myself before I notice a faint smile was to me as his gaze looked indirectly at me.

I didn't hear what Shulk said, since it was bit too low for me to hear, but I didn't think much of it. What I did hear was what Alvis said after–I believe–Shulk asked him a question.

"The Monado emits a particular ether wavelength in its ground state," Alvis explained before looking up again. "It must have drawn them."

Our gaze turned towards the sky and a roar of some kind broke the calming silence. Three creatures flew down towards us at high speeds and I reacted too late, falling to the ground as I felt something pass by at high speeds. A streak of yellow-blue went over head, letting out another roar. My eyes found them looking at my bracelet, looked onto the creatures flying back for another round.

"Wh-what are those things?!" I cried out, still paralyzed in fear as Shulk got up.

"Neetz! Alvis! Get out the way!" Shulk called back to us as my feat returned to the flying monsters coming back for another round. "I'll deal with this myself!"

Shulk grabbed the Monado and charged at the creatures, activating the Monado as I managed to catch my breath. Alvis had by that time walked over to me and stood by me, watching Shulk. Getting up to my feet, I noticed how Alvis was doing nothing to help, but he did look over at me once I was up.

"You're a puzzle, you know that?" He asked me as I noticed that he was holding something in his hand.

"And how would you know?" I grumbled back at him.

"That's nothing something I need to answer now, but perhaps later..." He back to me with his faint smile on his face, "You'll be needing this."

Looking confused, he just tossed over the short distance between us a small, blue crystal–or rather gem for that matter. Catching it, I curiously held it up, seeing the pure blue's shading in the night's light.

"And...what's this?" I asked him.

"Do you like it? It's an Ether Crystal. Quite a marvelous true sapphire color, if I do say so myself."

That seemed excessive, I thought. "…What am I suppose to do with this?"

"You'll find that out when the time comes," Alvis eyed on Shulk's battle, "but until then, you better go help Shulk before he gets himself killed."

Looking back to where he was looking, I saw Shulk lying back on the ground, in pain of some kind as I saw the creatures coming back down for the kill. I growled, pocketing the gem and ran over to Shulk, seeing if he was alright with the Junk Sword out in case if I had to attack the creatures. Even though I was confused as to how they were beating him this quickly, all I cared about was for Shulk's safety, even it required to risk my own.

"Shulk! Are you all right?" I asked him, helping him up to a sitting position as he winced in pain.

"It can't be!" Shulk managed to get out, clutching his stomach in pain. "I saw its movement before it struck. How can it…?"

"It is a Telethia," Alvis had strolled over to us as he looked at the flying creatures.

"Telethia?" My gaze turned into a glare, since my gut was telling me something was wrong with trusting or even talking with him.

"They can read your mind," Alvis explained, tapping his head as he met my glare. "Whether you have a vision or not, if they know your next move, it's all in vain."

"So we have flying bird creatures that can read minds... Oh joy! I'm so excited," I said, sarcastically, cutting off Shulk before he could even reply to what Alvis explained. "Got any ideas on how to beat them then?"

"There is only one way." Alvis eyed at the Monado laying on the ground. "Stop it in its tracks, then dull its perception." Suddenly, Alvis took off running fast away from us, snatching the Monado as he did.

"What the-?! Are you crazy?! You can't wield-!" I yelled until I saw the Monado activated, silencing my rage as both Shulk and I saw the new symbol upon the blade.

"A new symbol?!" Shulk gasped. Both of us looked at each other for a split second before back to see what Alvis would do.

The Telethia charged straight at Alvis, who readied the Monado for the fight. He swung the weapon and a green energy came forth from it, latching onto the Telethia before the creature was frozen in mid-air. Ok, what did this guy just do?! Did he just freeze time or something? By this time Alvis had sliced the antenna off the creature before destroying the creature before it had the chance to strike back. As he stylishly landed down to the ground, the Telethia was no more, bursting into green energy in front of us.

"Wow..." I uttered as both Shulk and I got to our feet, but I soon closed myself up from emoting those same emotions as Alvis looked back towards us.

"That was...amazing!" Shulk exclaimed quietly as he tried to limp towards Alvis, but I had to hold him a bit to keep him from falling.

"I suggest you two stop staring," Alvis walked over to us, holding the Monado in his hands before tossing it over to Shulk. It spun end to end in the air, and I had to release my supporting grip on Shulk in order for him to catch it. The strange symbol was gone now and I couldn't blame the sword for doing so. I didn't even how close Alvis got to us when he got behind both of us and placed his hand on Shulk's shoulder. Both of us looked back at him as many questions were swirling in my head about this strange man. "The sword is yours to wield," he said, referring to Shulk before giving a small push forward.

"What was that light from the Monado?" I asked him as Alvis as he backed away, my grip tightening on the sword.

"The Monado does not control itself. You control it."

I think Shulk's brain was able to process what he saw as my sense alerted me to the Telethia overhead. We turned around and got ready to fight, but neither my thoughts wandered not to what Alvis said nor the Monado, but to my own blade. The strange blade I'm able to summon, its own connection to my bracelet... Did it have any connection to the Monado and how it worked? I still had no idea how the blade worked, but it didn't have one main Art: Time Warp. The design of it... It did resembled to the Monado, but there's only way to find it out. Holding the Junk Sword, I began to focus like how I summoned it the first time as I looked up to the Telethia getting ready to come down to fight.

"Well, only way to find out," I whispered to myself, trying to focus upon my bracelet and the sword.

"I...control it," Shulk said softy. I looked over to Shulk, who grasped the hilt tightly with determination in his voice. "By the light of the Monado...I _will_ stop them."

The Monado was then activating, sharing the same green light as when Alvis used it before. Maybe Shulk can do it and perhaps, I could tell him-!

Strange jolts of energy shot up my right arm, whose grip tighten around the Junk Sword. Looking down, my eyes caught sight of the bracelet reacting by the white and gold carvings glowing. Not long after, I saw the Junk Sword change into the strange blade only for me, the one that anyways caught Shulk's attention, and now Alvis'. I could sense the question incoming about the blade's name and for the first time, I knew what this blade's name was, one that was burnt into my mind: _Telaensis._

**I'm ending the Chapter here so that this one chapter doesn't become a lengthy one.**


	13. Chapter 13: Settling the Score

Chapter 13: Settling the Score

_Telaensis..._

The sword's name... My sword's name. Why did this come now? I shook out the thought as one of the remaining two Telethia screeched at us. Getting into position, I looked at Shulk and he nodded at me before we looked at the Telethia coming down to our level, ready to strike.

"Ready?" Shulk asked me.

I nodded as one of them came close to us. He went first ahead with the Monado, swinging it just like Alvis did and the green light burst outwards, latching onto the creature like how Alvis did. I ran behind him and Shulk jumped, slicing off the antenna to render its mind reading powers useless. As Shulk landed, I sensed the other one coming from behind us, not too far away. Shaking my head, I jumped up and holding Telaensis tightly, sliced the creature down its spinal cord before removing it as I landed.

"Shulk! Behind you!" I called out, turning around to see the Telethia not too far behind. Ignoring the horrible scream and burst of green energy from the now dead Telethia behind me, he didn't have time to react as it swooped from behind him, ready to strike. I hesitated to use the Time Wrap because I had no idea if the Telethia would sense it. Instead, I just froze as it attacked Shulk from behind, sending him flying towards me. My instinct forced me to dodge and turn back to the Telethia, which roared at me before flying towards me. "Sorry Shulk," I muttered before charging at it.

My mind liked to wander off, but during battle, it was more concerned for my safety then anything. I ran to the left and the Telethia flew after me. Turning around, I felt the claws tear into my clothing, but barely digging into my left arm. Stumbling back, glance to see nothing bleeding before I faced the Telethia, my Telaensis in my hands read to strike back. It came again and I had to react quickly. The claws ripped into my right sleeve, but I quickly flung it off. Blood was now coming from my right arm, sending pain up my shoulder. I had to shake it off as the Telethia seemed to not be fazed.

"You got to be kidding me," I mumbled to myself. "Just how sturdy are these things?"

"Neetz!"

The Telethia clashed against my blade, since my mind had wondered to Shulk for a second. He charged up behind up and quickly activated the new art, and it inflicted not only the Telethia, but me as well. I expected to be feeling pressure so I couldn't move, but instead I felt pain shoot throughout my body, mainly to my head. Biting my lip, I moved and managed to slice off the antenna before I felt the wounds grow in pain. Looking down, I saw my wounds had somehow grown worse because of the Art. What was going on?! I saw Shulk kill the last one by slicing through the chest after he jumped up. He got up, panting as he deactivated the Monado. Turning to me, he saw my wounds as I felt them still ache in pain, but now it seemed like the pain wasn't increasing – to my relief.

"Neetz! What were you thinking?!" Shulk looked at my wounds before he looked into my eyes.

"I… I just couldn't let that thing tear into you!" I blushed, thinking how stupid I was sounding. "N-Never mind, at least we are alright and they are gone."

"...Just please be more careful next time."

I had to smile, seeing him calm down after I nodded. Just then, I noticed Alvis placing a hand on Shulk's shoulder, causing Shulk to turn around.

"Well? You see now, Shulk?" Alvis said to him.

Shulk nodded. "Thank you..."

"Yes, thank you," I smiled softly at Alvis. Sharp pains shoot through my arms, reminding me that I was wounded. So looking at my jacket, I sighed; this wasn't to be used anytime soon. Trying to ignore the pin and lack of bandages to cover my wounds, I chuckled, hearing Shulk immediately asking Alvis where he learned how to wield the Monado.

Of course, being how Alvis was he completely ignored it and went on. "They were not primary Telethia," Alvis said. He was walking away from us now. "Merely its spawn."

So these were like bees and now they have a queen of sorts, I thought to myself quietly. "Well, as long as we don't have to hunt this thing down. I'll be fine."

Alvis had stopped by the water's edge. "The primary Telethia dwells elsewhere in Makna Forest. Is it… wounded? I see... The Telethia is hurt and lies in rest. Wounded by...a girl."

"A girl?" Shulk and I asked in unison.

Alvis looked back at us and chuckled, seeing our reaction. He walked back towards us slowly. "The Monado...is a divine sword capable of disturbing the very fabric of existence..." He reached out and grasped the Monado's handle, just below where Shulk's hand was grasping. "Of both the material and the immaterial."

"Alvis..." I heard something far off, but I could tell Shulk was still talking to Alvis since I didn't speak a word, "How do you know so much about the Monado? Who are you?" Shulk asked, being perplexed by this mysterious man.

The noise turned out to be a voice, one that I could distinctly tell just by how faint it was.

"Reyn...?" I asked, before I heard him more clearly from behind us. "Reyn!"

"Reyn! We're down here!" Shulk called, facing away Alvis.

Suddenly something was off in the air around me. It didn't have any reason to be, but it did feel weird. I didn't want to bring it up, since I assumed that it was nothing, just my nerves being on edge in case we were attacked. Reyn had slowed down when he arrived at the bottom and just then did my headache return, along with the wave of sleep begging to come. Shulk had stepped behind me by that point and I felt the numbness of my arms starting to get to me. All I had to do was keep focus... Focus...

_Everything...is spinning? Blurry...? Or am I going to–?_

_Damn it!_

"...I think that's it for now. She's rested quite enough; you two can stop worrying about her and get some rest."

"But Sharla-

"No, you both need some rest before we head off to the Nopon village. If you two don't get any sleep, I'll have you both get to bed, alright?"

"Fine, Sharla… Come on, Shulk."

I barely heard the pair of footsteps leave the area as I was waking up fully. My eyes slowly flutter open as I heard humming above me. Everything was a blur as my eyes adjusted to the lighting.

"Oh, you're awake now?" I heard Sharla ask me. "Well, that's sooner than I expected. Normally, they awake sometime later."

"Sometimes later than what?" I asked, feeling my wounds aching and my headache pounding my head. "Man, my head is killing me..."

"Got a headache again?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "But it's worse than usual..."

"Hey, you're lucky that those wounds of yours didn't paralyze your arms. If Shulk or Reyn didn't get you back here as soon as they did, you might have lost both your arms."

"Blame my carelessness for saving Shulk's life for that."

"But, I did notice something about the wounds... Most importantly on your left arm."

My left arm? Oh right, the Monado somehow made them worse- Wait! Did she figure that out?! My heart started to beat faster as Sharla got a bowl and spoon of something I couldn't see.

"It's nothing too major, but the wounds seemed to be jagged than the ones on your right arm. The...Telethias that were attacking you and Shulk... To me, it looks like they managed to wound that arm. You should be more careful when wielding your weapon. Ff you lose that arm, you'll have to do everything left handed like Dunban does."

"Oh, whatever you say; you're the medic after all," I chuckled as she sat down by me with the soup.

Sharla helped me with drinking the soup since she instructed me not to move my arms. I didn't argue with here, but in a way I could relate to her. The Bionis wasn't as advanced as back home was, so they made do with what was given to them. During my treatment by Sharla, I had found out that I had been unconscious for about three days and the two that we had found had awoken. They were Melia and Samuel; which the male sounded a bit familiar and common from Earth to be named from here. I couldn't explain it, but I shrugged it off for the time being.

For the time I was bed-ridden, Sharla kept everybody but Dunban from watching over me to keep a check on my condition. It puzzled me as to why we were taking this much time just so I could recover, but Dunban had a point that I was still having either a headache or was light-headed. From Dunban, I heard that Shulk and Reyn wanted to know my condition and see for themselves and they did try. They only stopped when Sharla caught them and according to Dunban, they got a 'slap' of their lifetime. Dunban and I talked about the others and the plans for what was to come. We also talked about Earth when the others weren't around. He was really interested about Earth and how advance we were, but in return, he was explaining to me more of the Bionis and lots of history; I mean like a book ton of information.

After what seemed to be two weeks, Sharla had check upon my condition that morning, having me moves my arms around to check their conditions. She had me do simple tasks, all but wielding my weapon. The wounds had healed up nicely due to the care and treatments Sharla used, but scars were permanently on my skin, which made me wonder if back on Earth I'd still have them...if I ever return to Earth that is.

"Ok, I think you're good," Sharla smiled at me, grabbing her rifle, "You've made a full recovery."

"Well, I do feel guilty for having us take a stop during our journey," I replied back, looking at the bandages around my arms, "Is it really necessary for me to wear these still? My wounds are healed, Sharla."

"Hey, it's just for safely measures. Say, do you mind if I ask you a quick question before we head out and get the boys ready?"

Question? The thought never crossed my mind and I didn't see anything suspicious from her voice to her actions. But then it hit me: the Outsider. I mentally slapped myself at that thought and how I had to tell everybody sooner or later. Bracing myself for the worse, I did my best to act calm when I replied. "Sure, what would you like to ask me?"

"Are you...an Outsider by any chance?"

Yep, she hit the nail perfectly me. I looked at her before sighing.

"Yeah, I'm an Outsider...but before you freak out, I'll let you know that not only haven't I met any other Outsiders, I know nothing about this place."

"I see, that's why your wounds heal differently than the others. Honestly, from what I've heard of those Outsiders, they are either evil or completely friendly towards others. However, there was one thing that made me doubt you as the 'Outsider."

"And...what's that?"

Sharla folded her arms and looked towards my bloody jacket, now stuck inside one of the bags for the time being.

"It's...that Outsider's aren't affected by ether changes in areas. From what I've heard, they can go wherever they please without being affected by ether levels only. They are still affected by the heat or cold, but if ether is drained from an area, it doesn't affect them."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, Reyn mentioned that when you passed out, something disrupted the ether in that area. It wasn't just a slight change, but rather a major change of Ether. I went there not too long ago, and even though most of the Ether had returned to the area, both Shulk and I could deduce that something drained the Ether of the area."

"Wait, something drained the ether?"

"And it was quick, just about three seconds actually. Now, I'm no expert on how Outsider's live, but I've got a feeling that has something to do with you." She unfolded her arms. "I'm not trying to make you the enemy, I just want to monitor you once in awhile for now on. Even though I haven't told anybody else but Dunban, I just don't want to tell them about your status as the 'Outsider' until you wish to do so, alright?"

"Well...you're right," I nodded. "I'll tell them soon, but not right now. But I think I've been a burden for too long. We need to get going to the Nopon village."

"Agreed. Now come along. Shulk and Reyn have gotten restless, and I don't think they can wait any longer."


	14. Author NoteUpdate

Well... This is awkward. Man life and school can be a real pain in the butt...

Oh right!

Hi everybody, this is a quick update on things regarding Xenoblade Chronicles Rewind.

I've been busy lately and I mean busy. Life can be such a pain, but right now I'll get to the main point.

This story will be on a slow updating since I take time writing writing chapter. It's not canceled of anything but I want to get your opinions for something.

As you know, Neetz wield a sword, but lately I've been thinking of giving her a different weapon so that she stands out. Right now, she feels too much like Shulk to me.

For the weapon, I want something different from what the others have, but nothing like a scythe unless I run out of ideas. If you could send me suggestions, I'll consider using them in the story. She'll still have a sword and it doesn't apply to Telansis. This will only be a replacement for the Junk Sword.

Next, I'll let you know right now that there will be one more OC joining the group, which might come sooner or later. This will only change the sub-plot considering the Outsiders only.

And I think that's about it. If you want to ask any more questions or leaving suggestions, feel free to do so.

Anyway till next time, I'll see you all in the next chapter.


	15. Chapter 14: Journey to The Nopon Village

**Hello everybody and thanks for waiting for the next chapter… three in fact. I'm really excited to continue this despite the slow updates. **

**Reviews are always welcomed and I always want to hear your opinions of the story so far.**

**Now then, onto the chapter!**

Chapter 14: Journey to The Nopon Village

As soon as I left the tent, it didn't take me ten seconds to see Shulk and Reyn rush over to me. I saw Melia and Samuel sitting down looking confused as Sharla yelled at the boys. Dunban was sitting down, having breakfast calmly as I just chuckled at both of them. As Sharla scolded both boys, I snuck out and went over to Dunban's side, ready to eat so we could head off.

"Well, looks like the sleeping beauty has awoken," Samuel said, grinning at me. "My, aren't you a pretty one."

I would have replied, but Dunban handed me some bread and water, which I happily took to have some solids in my system. Also, Melia glared at Samuel before she cleared her throat.

"Forgive him, please," she said politely. "He can be a bit thick-headed when meeting other ladies. My name is Melia, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"And I'm Samuel, Lady Melia's personal escort!" Samuel introduced. His cheek was grabbed by Melia, who glared before letting him go. I smiled, since I did find it a bit of a sibling relationship.

"My name is Neetz. It's nice to meet both of you," I swallowed a bite of my bread. "Sorry for being such a burden. Both of you must have had important manners to attend to."

"Indeed, we do have something important that we had to take care of," Melia began, not changing the tone of her voice.

"But we couldn't let you travel with those injuries of yours. You might have died if Sharla didn't have the time to patch them up!" Samuel smiled before his gaze looked at my bandages, "Are you fully recovered yet?"

"Yes," I took a quick glance at them before looking back at them, "but it's just so I don't injure myself again. She told me I need to wear them, just in case they get infected or something."

"Oh, now that makes sense."

"Will you be able to fight till we reach the village?" Dunban asked me and I shook my head.

"I doubt it. It wouldn't be my best interest to get hurt more than this. I think I'll sit out from fighting until Sharla gives me the all clear."

"I completely understand," Melia stated. "It would be best if you stayed out of the battles. We've already been waiting long enough, and I think we'll head off to the Nopon Village today."

"Um, pardon me Melia, but could you enlighten me on why we'll be heading there? If it's not a bother to you or anything."

"No problem! It's totally fine, beautiful!" Samuel smirked. "You see, if you are to reach the Bionis Head, you will have to pass through the Eryth Sea. If you wish to get to the Eryth Sea, you'll have to go to Nopon Village. Do you see it now?"

"Yes, thanks for informing me. It helps me a lot, Samuel…"

"Samuel, you need to learn that just flirting with other girls won't do you any good when you're suppose to be protecting me," Melia retained her emotionless face as Samuel just ignored her, "I am protected by an idiot, just my luck."

"Hey, it's not that bad." Melia looked at me with a questionable look on her face, "Most of my cousins are boys, so I'm used to this stuff."

Looking at Melia, who sipped more of her drink, I couldn't help but get a picture of both of their characters. Melia's the stuck-up brat or princess type that has a falls in love at first sight deal. Samuel is the flirty boy who wants all the girls expect for the one he's with or something like that. If I'm correct, then things would either be a fun trip or go downhill with these two. The two seemed to be talking about personal things to themselves, but I took note of how odd their hairstyles were. Sure Melia's hair could make sense, but why would Samuel have the weird hairstyle? Was it common for the Homs of this area to have that hairstyle? I didn't want to question them, so I continued to eat what little remained of my breakfast.

"Were you that hungry?" Dunban asked me.

"Well, Sharla rarely let me eat anything solid," I replied, finishes my breakfast. "So I'm really happy to finally get at least bread into my system."

"Wouldn't that just make your stomach more upset?"

"Hey, it beats just having soup everyday, so I don't care. Also… I told Sharla about this thing."

"Really? So you're good with her offer?"

"Yeah, but I'm still debating on whether or not to tell Shulk and Reyn yet. I would have told them sooner, but with my injuries stressing them out, this wouldn't be the mess time would it?"

"Maybe wait until things die down, then you can tell them."

"That's what I'm planning Dunban."

Our small talk was cut off by Reyn's yelling, causing us to look over and see what was going on. It looked like they got Sharla mad and the four of us in safely sighed, or in Samuel's case laughed at them. Maybe my gut feelings were right; things like this will make this journey a whole lot better.

We left soon after that and I hung out with Sharla and Melia in the back, out of harm's way so my injuries wouldn't get any worse. The boys were finishing up more quests and keeping guard on us as we continued our way towards the village with Samuel leading us of all people. I wasn't quite keen on being escorted, but with my current injuries it was the best thing for me. While talking with both girls, I couldn't help get a strange feeling about Melia, it's odd, but it felt like I knew her somehow. Of course I shrugged it off, thinking nothing much of it as we continued to talk or more precisely Melia asking me questions.

"So, Neetz, why are you traveling with Shulk and the others?" she asked me. "I've heard everybody else's reasons, but not your own."

"Oh, that... Well, when Shulk and Reyn started their journey, I decided to be..." I thought for a moment before figuring out the exact way to put it, "a babysitter of sorts. Since most of my cousins are boys, I could tell they would get into problems if they went alone. That's why I'm here, Melia."

"Really? Because it seems like you've been the main problem for this whole group."

"…How so?"

"It's just a feeling, but I got a feeling that its because of you when you were brought into the camp. Now don't get me wrong, we haven't gotten to know each other properly, but that's how I see it as of right now."

What she said made me think when Shulk called for Melia's help with something, leaving only Sharla and I alone.

Is that true? Have I caused more problems than the boys? Well, I guess that's true. Maybe I should be more careful.

"Neetz, is something wrong?" Sharla looked at me.

"Oh! Sorry Sharla, just thinking about some things," I replied, faking a smile.

"Alright, but if something does start to bother you, don't be afraid to tell me."

I nodded just as I heard Samuel call for me, which caused us to see an elevated walkway up into a tree. A Nopon Villager was standing by the walkway as all of us walked to the platform. Looking up, I noticed how high it was going up into the tree and that got me scared. If I could forget my fear of heights by only focusing on what's ahead, I'll be fine. If not, then I might panic a bit. What did catch my attention were the big Cyclops looking creatures just by one of the extension bridges.

"Um…can we get going? " I nervously asked. "I'd like to sleep peacefully in the village tonight and not out here again."

"Aw, looks like we've got a damsel in distress," Samuel popped up right behind me, scaring both Sharla and I. "Don't worry, air maiden! I shall protect you."

Of course, the next thing Sharla did was punch him in the face as I quietly backed up between Reyn and Dunban.

"Don't you ever do that again," Sharla growled as I glanced over to Melia, who just sighed.

We all began the ascent to the village after Samuel's dumb moment. Surprisingly, these bridges were very firmly built, even though they were built for Nopon. Green Ether crystals decorated the pathway as it shined brightly at night – Wait what?

Man, I'm losing track of time already…

Even with that, I focused my attention the big tree. The Nopon, cute little creatures, lived here, inside a huge tree surrounded by monsters. Not only were they cute, but they were smart as well. Aw, it makes me want to have one as a- No! No! No! They are just like us. Not pets of any kind. Why mind why must you forget those simply facts?! Reaching the finally platform, we all stopped as Melia, back to her proper posture, turning to face us.

"This is the entrance to the Frontier Village," Melia stated as I was astonished by the entrance.

Everything I saw was made out of wood, pure wood and by the stairs leading up and perhaps into the tree, huge orange flowers decorated and popped out from the dark brown trunk of the place. There were Ether lights sure, but this entrance was just begging me to explore this place more and more.

"So, are you telling that this is where the Nopon live?" I asked, still taking in all the beauty, "That is so cool!"

Melia nodded and walked over to a Nopon in the entrance. As it saw her, its ear like wings spread.

"Ah! Bird Lady!" It cried out, "Welcome back, Bird Lady."

Bird Lady? I don't see anything like wings on Melia, so why was the Nopon calling her that. An idea popped into my head just from my stupid thinking and being somehow tired.

_Wings… on the head-!_

No! Not now, you stupid brain! Wings on the head of somebody sound stupid! That cannot possible be true! I quickly returned my focus back to the conversation, wanting not to think of that idea any longer.

"I wish to speak with the village chief. Will you permit us to enter?" Melia requested.

As if in response, the Nopon walked out of our way from the staircase.

"My pleasure. My pleasure," he answered.

"Thank you." Melia turned back to face us, "Now then, I'll take you to the village chief. Follow me."


	16. Chapter 15: The NoponFrontier Village

Chapter 15: The Nopon/Frontier Village

We entered the village and I couldn't believe what I saw inside besides the colorful Nopon all around. Besides more wooden platforms in the center of it all was more beauty of this place. It made me feel like I was home-

_Home… Earth is my home, not here…_

My voice sub-consciousness brought me back to the dark feeling I've suppressed. The thought of being stuck here forever and never returning home. It made me feel sick to the stomach. Home sick more likely.

"Hom Hom!" a Nopon cried out.

Out of my own mind, I found that all the Nopon were clustered around us, excitement filling their voices.

"Hom here, Hom here!"

"Hom who, Hom who?"

"Hom Hom everywhere!"

"Me want touch Hom Hom!"

"Me want nibble Hom Hom!"

"Hom Hom taste—!" The Nopon spat.

"Hom Hom scary!"

If everybody else was confused as to how they would take all the attention, I just accepted it and moved on. However, I did catch a strange look from Melia looking directly at me, as if observing me. It didn't last long, as she stepped before us unfazed by the Nopon around us.

"Nopon of Frontier Village! Melia Antiqua has returned. I request an audience with your chief," she raised her voice, saying, "Chief, will you hear my request?"

Anti-water? At least learning some Latin makes things like this very funny…

"Melia here!" one Nopon exclaimed.

"Bird Lady here!"

"Melia back!"

"Bird Lady back!"

I noticed that Shulk caught on of Melia being called Bird Lady, but I didn't wish to bring it up right now. We followed the Nopon clustered around us as they led us to their chief. I was focused on the beauty of this place and how well kept it was. I was the only who actually started to smile and chuckle at them, giving them praise for their home and they were so happy with just my simply kindness gave to them. Back on Earth, I hated being the center of attention, but here, I didn't take it too serious as everybody else but Samuel and Melia were confused about all the attention.

Inside of this place was breath-taking for a girl like me. The hollow inside was lit by endless amount of lamps not quite as bright as ether. Many rope bridges and wooden bridges were overhead and below them all on our level was a pool was water in the center of everything. In front of the pool was the chief Melia wished to speak to.

This one was different than the rest and he had to be the chief just by his appearance alone. His main fur was grey with his tall hair and beard falling to the ground were a rosy color. Nothing had to be said about his attire, clearly marking his status as their chief for all to see.

"My dear Melia, it's good to see you again so soon," he spoke just like an elder would, but not in the normal Nopon manner, "And you look so well."

Melia bowed her head, showing respect to the elder before I noticed how close Samuel was to her.

"And you as well Samuel."

Samuel mimicked Melia's gesture.

"And what of the other men?"

"They are at one with the Bionis," Samuel replied, not looking up to the chief/ "They sacrificed their lives so that Lady Melia and I could escape safely."

Melia looked up, firm as ever.

"But this is not our reason for coming," Melia spoke firmly, masking her sadness as she gestured towards us, "These Homs need your help. Will you be so kind as to listen to their request?"

"What could a Hom Hom need of me?" the chief Nopon asked.

"They require safe passage to Eryth Sea." Samuel looked up.

The chief Nopon chuckled. "I see no reason to deny them. And Melia, Samuel, what of you?"

"We have unfinished business in this region," Samuel then glanced to Melia.

"Once these Homs are safely on their way, we shall be on ours as well." Melia finished.

I watched as Melia walked over with Samuel after her. He looked back at me for a second before following Melia again. Sharla folded her arms as she faced us.

"That girl... Something's troubling her," Sharla said.

"And Samuel seems to being hiding something as well," Reyn thought aloud.

"We found her half-dead and with Samuel's condition not to great as hers," Dunban pointed out. "But I don't suppose they'll tell us the reason any time soon."

"Maybe we can help," Shulk suggested. "I'll go and talk to her."

"No Shulk, I don't think that's the best course of action," I disagreed with him, "Even if it's the best thing to do right now, bothering them about it might give them the wrong impression of us." My stomach growled as I finished me statement. "And… I think we need to attend to our own problems before helping theirs…"

Just then, I felt somebody touch my head and turning around, I found myself looking down at the Nopon Chief, who looked so happy.

"Friends of Melia! I welcome you to Frontier Village! I am Chief Dunga. You are our guests now. Is there anything you need?" I was a bit startled by him asking me of all people, but I tried to remain calm.

"Um…" I fumbled with words before glancing back at the others, "You guys want some rest and food?"

"Yeah, do you not want some rest?" Reyn asked me.

"Excuse me, Reyn, but I'd like to also bathe first and foremost; I smell gross. If you want go ahead and eat with the others. While you dine with that filth upon you, I'll be taking a nice bath before I had my meal."

"I second that," Sharla looked over at Reyn, "As hungry as I am, a bath would be very nice. We haven't had the proper chance to even wash ourselves."

"So are we going to eat?" Reyn asked and I ignored his thick-headed skull.

After that light-hearted moment, I was led by a Nopon to a secluded pool within the tree. Honestly, it felt weird to bathe outside a bathroom, but I had to make due with what I had available. A towel and bar of soap was resting by the pool. So they did have soap here, but no running shower or waterfall? Well, at least I can bathe in peace. I took no notice of the Nopon behind me as I removed the Junk Sword taking very careful note of my wounds still visible. Once I got that off, I placed them by the pool before I looked back to see the Nopon standing there, as if waiting for something.

"…Do you need something?" I asked, a bit concern as I place Telaensis by the towel for the time being.

"Hom Hom get clean in pool!" the Nopon said. "Hom Hom give us clothes to make new ones as guests!"

"Oh… is that so? Then, I guess I'll give them once I'm done."

I wasn't comfortable with stripping fully, but then again none of the boys were here. After taking time to strip, I handed off my clothing before submerging myself into the pool. However, I forgot how chilly the water could be, causing me to swim up to get air. The water chilly nature relaxed my body as I took a deep breath, feeling all the filth being washed away. My eyes widen noticing that my bandages were still on. They were all soaked up now; good job me.

"Great, just wait I need…" I grumbled, taking them off, "Sharla's not going to be happy about this…"

Removing them both, I found that the scars had fully formed and only numbing pains were present mainly on the one damaged by Monado Purge. It felt weird when I traced the scars, recalling the pain of that one art doing to my body. None of the other arts used did damage to me, which was oddly enough the one Shulk used when we were alone, away from the group.

"Monado Purge…Purge," I thought aloud to myself, letting myself sink up to just my shoulders, "That's like getting rid of something like monsters, but am I a monster then? A Telethia?"

I shook my head, letting my damp head fall over my face.

"No, that can't be right. If that was so, I'd take another form, not this one. I'm a Homs here, not an Outsider. I need… to tell Shulk and Reyn that soon… Let's hope they'll accept it like Dunban and Sharla did."

I rested in the pool for some time, deep in my thoughts before washing myself with the soap. During that time, I took notice of my hair, which had grown to be just halfway down my back. It made me smile, thinking back to how when I was younger, I'd wear my hair in two big pigtails. Now however, I prefer short hair as I grew up. It got me thinking about if I were to stay here, how should I have my hair styled? Emerging from the pool, I noticed that by the Junk Sword were clothes resting there for me. Wrapping the towel around me, I looked at the clothing and by it was a note, one that seemed to be written hastily.

_Dear Neetz,_

_Here, I got you some clothes. It's not the best for a beauty flower like you, but it was best that I could manage. If I happened to come across more comfortable attire for your stay here, I'll give it to you. As for right now, just take these clothes._

Of course, I raised an eyebrow about who would have exactly written this, but then it clicked in my mind.

Is one of them… an Outsider like myself?

I looked at my clothes, looking very carefully at how they look…tribally? I really can't describe it, but it was a mix-match of things that would be considered pre-imperial Indian of African clothing back home. Since I had nothing else to wear, I dawned the clothing given to me and looked at myself in the pool, making sure that this was on right.

It wasn't my favorite clothing, but t least this one had some modesty along with it. Hell, it even came with accessories and I'd take them as souvenirs if I could back home. Firstly, I had a tank-top on, but it did reveal my stomach which I was questioning as to why it was needed. With the hot forest air, I couldn't complain as I tried my best to get adjusted to the new clothing. I was happy that I had shorts, even though they were short and hidden under a long skirt reaching just below my knees. The clothing was made out of scraps of cloth, animal furs and whatever else they could find. It did nothing to hide my scar however, so I was bit hesitant to go outside without them on.

I grabbed the Junk Sword and its sheath and placed it around my waist, finding it more comfortable around my waist. The bracelet still rested on my wrist; the only connection I had to summoning Telaensis. Alvis crept for only a second into my mind before I shoved it away. I needed to focus on that later, but I know that the others would be waiting for me outside. Looking one last time into the pool, I pushed my hand into my thick hair, thinking about how I should style it. Thinking as to how my hair looked right now, my discussion was clear enough. Grabbing my sword, I closed my eyes.

"If I'm going to be here for some time… I'm going to look the part."


	17. Chapter 16: The Legendary Heropon and

Chapter 16: The Legendary Heropon and the New Outsider

After grabbing what I needed to fix my hair, I was quite satisfied of what came out of it. Of course, it wasn't the best thing I could make. All I did was tied into to two pigtails with little feathers hanging off of them. Of course it wasn't comfortable enough for me, but I didn't want to cut my hair with the Junk Sword instead of scissors.

My bandages were replaced and they had a furry design to it, allowing my to apply at least some pressure without causing any pain to the scars; even if they were becoming scars, they still hurt like hell if applying lots of pressure to them.

The time passed by fast, including with the feast which I could barely recall as I rested on my sleeping mat. Their strange food still lingered inside my stomach, filling me us and exposing me to the savory food taste so new to me. I had almost eaten equal to what Reyn had if my stomach hadn't started to tell me to stop. Besides that one moment, I couldn't recall anything else before this time and sleep waited to get the better of me.

I woke up some time after to hear something moving. I groaned, trying to roll over and sleep once more; I hated how my sensitive hearing would do these things to me. The Junk Sword rested by me as I curled up, trying to keep myself warm. Opening my eyes, I looked to see if a Nopon had just passed by waking me up. However, I did notice that something was moving about away from where we rested and I would have. Though due to how tired I was, I groaned and tried to go back to sleep. What I didn't expect however was to hear footsteps fading away from behind me.

My eyes snapped open as I quickly looked up, seeing somebody moving towards the exit, back into Makna Forest. I knew that nobody else was up, or rather to my knowledge but the shadowed seemed to resemble Samuel quite a bit. I knew something about that later was odd and I thought he might help me figure out who it was, so pushing myself up and grabbing my weapon, I headed out to see if Samuel was leaving the village.

He didn't actually; well all he was really doing looking out towards the forest. He must have heard me or at least sense me, since he did shake his head.

"Well, didn't expect Sleeping Beauty to wake up this early," he spoke, not facing me still, "You alright waking around here, Neetz?"

"Yeah, I am just fine," I replied, taking a deep breath as I approached, "You know…you're not good at leaving ominous messages."

"Yeah, it was never a thing I was good at." He chuckled. "So, what do you want?"

"Answers… and a way back home," I walked to his side, "That's all I request, if you wouldn't mind…"

"You know, you are losing bits of yourself now that their Ether is inside you."

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow at what he said.

"I'm saying that you're changing to adapt this world, like what's happened to me," His gaze looked towards the forest and monsters were still roaming about the early morning, "Trust me, I looked just like a Homs when I arrived here."

"Then you are like me… But why… how would you?" My mind and words won't work in sync as everything around me about this world began to crash.

"Don't think too much of it beauty," Samuel touched my shoulder, making me flinch. "You still have other things to worry about, like what's going to happen ahead. To me, it looks like you've got no knowledge of this world, correct?"

"Y-Yeah, this place is just…" I looked at the rising sun and how the darkness was fading away as some monster roamed beneath us thanks to the suspension bridges, "It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen… you know?"

"So, you've never heard of Xenoblade Chronicles?"

"Xenowhat?"

He shook his head and folded his arms. "So you are that clueless; I'd never expect a person like yourself to be here without knowing about this place."

"Excuse me?!" I barked back, "Are you saying that I'm not smart enough to be here?"

"No, but I do know that without knowledge of what's to come ahead, you might end up causing another reset-I mean rewind to occur here."

"Reset? Why are you talking like this is a game?"

"Because from Earth, where we come from, it's a game."

I shook my head. "No, you must be joking. Must I knock your sense back into your skull, Samuel?"

"No! I'm not lying! This place is a game! Xenoblade Chronicles! That's the name of the game!"

I giggled at his flustered face.

"Alright then, if it really is a game and not some new world, then tell me what's coming up next?"

He blankly stared at me before giving me a small punch to my shoulder.

"Hey!" I growled, "What was that for?"

"Reasons, but it seems like it still hasn't taken full effect."

"You're making no sense…" I sighed at him as I looked back towards the village, "I should be heading back, before the others wake up."

"No good," Samuel replied, waking ahead of me, "Right now, they'll either be looking for us or Riki's is being introduced to the gang."

"Who's Riki?"

"A Nopon; one of the main and playable characters of the game."

A Nopon… one of the cute creatures is going to fight alongside us. In this world of wonders…a 'video game' which would never be possible unless they had lots of creative minds back on Earth created all of this… and now I'm getting one of these creatures to come alongside us…

"Neetz, stop fan-girling and let's get going," Samuel returned to his voice I recognized when we first met.

Did he just change his- No Neetz, you're just having this weird, strange dream and nothing else.

Samuel and I returned into the main floor of the village and he began flirting with me again in a voice I knew he was faking. I'm guessing that he did that to avoid the other Outsiders, but he wouldn't answer any of the other questions I had on my mind, so I pushed them away for the time being. As we entered, the Nopon were gathered around the main floor cheering out for 'Heropon?' I looked over at Samuel as we heard the Nopon crying out many things at the same time and mushrooms flying about. Geez, these Nopon are either annoyed or bored. As I looked back, it seemed like the Chief was holding the 'Heropon.' I was perplexed the whole time until things finally settled down. As the other Nopon left, I approached the others followed by Samuel.

"Ah, there you two are," Reyn looked at us, "Where were you two?"

"Samuel, did you fetch Neetz as I requested?" Melia asked.

"Well, it's more like she fetched me," Samuel replied scratching the back of his head, "She knew where I was before I even found her."

"Correction, he was slacking off," I looked at the others as Samuel glared at me, "Hey! I'm not kidding! Anyway, I believe we missed an introduction? This Legendary Heropon correct?"

"Yeah, should have seen the bugger," Reyn rubbed his jaw.

"Well I didn't, so I'd like to meet him without what you experienced," I walked over to the Nopon, "So, what's your name, mister?"

"Meet this year's legendary Heropon, Riki! Riki live to serve!" The small orange Nopon winked at me while he saluted.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Heropon Riki."

"And how are you so calm?" Reyn baffled. "The way he entered was just-"

"As I said before Reyn, I wasn't here when he first arrived!" I snapped back at him before I let out a sigh, "Besides, he looks so cute! I like him already!"

"Right…" Samuel rolled his eyes, "You like the Heropon more than your knight in shining armor."

"If you talk to me like that even more, I will not hesitant to slash you to bits."

"Neetz..." Dunban scolded and I grumbled, turning back.

"He's going to be a pain in my butt…" I whispered to myself before everything continued onward.

"Hom Hom seems stressed," Riki stated.

"Yeah, she can be stressed at times," Dunban chuckled before I cleared my throat.

"Sorry about that, sometimes my temper can get the better of me," I looked at the others before back at Riki, "But a Heropon's going to travel with us? Well I don't see the harm of him coming along."

"Yeah, but are going to have to take down the main Telethia if we want to get to our destination," Shulk informed me, "That's why we're going to kill the Telethia first."

"Can't argue with that; they were a pain last time," I rubbed my arms, tracing the scars.

I thought I saw Melia look at me in surprise, but I wasn't quite sure as Dunban turned to face me and Shulk.

"Shulk, Neetz, are these Telethia as strong as they sound?" Dunban asked us.

"Yeah, I didn't have the best time fighting them as Shulk had," I looked over at Shulk, "My arms are proof of that."

"Yes. They're quick as lightning and can read your mind," Shulk finished off my statement.

"A mind-reading giant bird..." Dunban said thoughtfully. "No problem."

"I can see their movement through the Monado, but even that's not enough to get the better of them."

"Don't forget, we had to deal with the spawn of the Telethia," I glanced at Samuel before back at the others. "Those spawns were stronger than anything we've faced yet."

"And Lady Melia only managed to weaken it barely," Samuel reminded us, "If Shulk and Neetz had trouble dealing with it..."

"And we're going against the daddy version," Dunban though for a second. "No one blink for a second."

"Okay," Shulk said with a nod.

"Eyes wide open!" Reyn responded next.

Yah, like that's going to help us.

"And don't forget that Melia is our only chance of making it to Eryth Sea," Dunban continued, glancing at her. "If anything happens to our guide, it's on our heads. The Telethia is our target, but don't forget about the person standing next to you."

"Dunban's right," Sharla agreed.

"I am…in your debt," Melia said, selecting her words with care. "My weaknesses are all too apparent."

"Melia, you managed to wound the Telethia," I smiled at her, "That's impressive that you able to wound the main one. I only fought the spawns with Shulk and I barely survived, though Shulk was wounded none-of-the-less."

"Hey!" Shulk called me out.

"What? It's true."

Dunga turned toward us, continuing on to get us back on track, "Riki has been informed of the Dinobeast, what you refer to as the Telethia. Be safe, my Hom Hom friends." With that, he departed, leaving us with Riki.

Riki waved his arms up and down. "Riki's friends, listen to! Dinobeast is big and scary! Friends get ready, friends help Riki get ready!"

"You… want us to get equipment for you?" Shulk asked uncertainly.

"As in…errand runners?" I inquired.

The Nopon bounced, spreading his wings. "Riki's friend right! Hom Hom clever!" He beat his wings, hovering in the air.

I looked over at Samuel, who sighed before I backed up away over to his side.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"I hate this quest," he grumbled, "I'm no errand boy."

"Well, too bad, because you can't skip this quest," I joked, nudging his side.

He growled at me as I chuckled. Well, it looks like we're going to have a nice time with the Heropon through gathering his equipment.


	18. Chapter 17: Unexpected Encounter

**I'm back with another two chapters, everybody! And guess what? I got Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, which I'm so excited about playing it while I'm writing this story. So if I'm not updating that often, that'll be another factor why. But don't worry, I'll be updating whenever I can.**

**Also, over 2,500 views? Wow, I never expected this to be that popular with a slow update schedule. Thank you to everybody who has view, favorite and followed this story. It is really something to have you all give this story a go. If you all wouldn't mind, I wouldn't mind hearing your reviews at all if you can leave a review. If not, then that's fine. Just getting more views will be enough to push my onward.**

**Well then, now that that's done, on to the story!**

Chapter 17: Unexpected Encounter

Gathering equipment for Riki took us quite some time. Going up and down the floors was a bit of a pain in my eyes, but that wasn't the main concern at the moment for me. Right now, I couldn't help but feeling the itchiness in my bandages, which was only starting up right now. I motioned to Sharla that they were starting to bother me, but she told me that she'll take care of it once the others were away to avoid Shulk or Reyn seeing the scars.

Gathering the items was a pain, but the time we had gathered everything, the itching was getting worse, and I just wanted to just start heading off so I could the bandages replaced. Back to where Riki was, he gathered up the items we fetched for him, and once he was fully dressed, he began dancing about happily, which I couldn't help but giggle at.

"Ready to go! Come, new friends, Riki's adventure begins!" Riki chirped happily.

"Riki, if you may permit me to ask," Samuel asked, still in his annoying tone of voice, "you do know where the beast lays at rest, correct?"

"Of course Riki know!" The Nopon replied, jumping up and flapping his wings as he turned to face Melia. "Melly! Riki hear you hurt Dinobeast!"

"I did," she said and then her voice became somewhat sad, almost in disappointment, "but only a little..."

"When Dinobeast hurt, Riki know it go to place with ether crystals." He jumped to face us. "Friends and Riki go to place with crystals. Then we find Dinobeast! Chief tell Riki! Chief always right!"

"I see... That would make sense, seeing as where Shulk and I fought the spawn," I confirmed Riki's statement. "Looks like we're going after the ether crystals again." We started off to where the Telethia would be, but as soon as we were outside the tree and away from the other Nopon, Shulk stopped ahead of us as I was by Sharla so she could check why the bandages were itching.

"Riki, why are you the Heropon?" Shulk inquired.

Riki stopped and turned around, to me looking a bit confused as he responded, "Why? Because Chief Dunga choose Riki!"

"He choose you?" I questioned. "It's not like something you get from birth right? It's not a birthright or anything of that sort?"

Riki shook his whole body. "Friend wrong. Chief choose by instinct!"

"By instinct?" Reyn failed to hold back his laughter before I glared at him.

"Why friend surprised? Chief have sharp instinct. Chief be village seer!"

"So that's how you became the Heropon?" Dunban realized. "Can't argue with that."

"Well, we shouldn't think too much about that," Samuel pointed out. "We got a Telethia to kill after all."

"Yeah, Samuel, but let Riki speak happily about being the Heropon," I jabbed his side.

"Hey!"

Riki's cheerful expression suddenly faltered before he looked downward. "Oh... Riki owe lots of monies to village. If Riki defeat Dinobeast, village promise to forget my debts." He smiled again as he jumped into the air once more. "So Riki like being Heropon!"

"Alright, if you say so, Riki!" I cheered, "Let's go show that Telethia who's boss!"

Both Riki and I jumped into the air happily as everybody probably rolled their eyes at us. The excitement was cut short when my wound started to itch even worse. I stayed back with Dunban and Sharla while everybody else followed Riki down the roped bridges. We followed them from the back as Sharla was applying new bandages to them, and Dunban was keeping an eye out for Shulk and Reyn, who had returned bickering to one another.

"So, how are the wounds?" Dunban asked me as Sharla was checking them.

"Oh, they were just itching; it wasn't anything too serious," I replied, sighing.

"So, will you be able to battle by the time we get there?"

"I'm not quite sure, but they do seem healed enough," Sharla replied, getting the bandages out and slowly wrapping them around my wounds, "You should be able to fight, but your nerves may sting if you move them around too much. So, if you have to fight, and I won't be surprised if you won't fight, try not to strain those nerves. They may lock up your arms to prevent them from moving unless they release themselves from the tension."

"Okay, thanks for that information, Sharla. I'll try my best to not become a burden to the party again," I averted my eyes as my hands moved the furry coverings on them. I just hope I can do so anyway. I smiled before getting over with the others as we started our search for the Telethia.

After some time walking, I was hanging out with Samuel for the time being, even with his flirty persona for the time being. The reason was because he would let that persona drop while the others were doing some more quests, and we were doing things by ourselves. One of these quests was gathering a certain number of items from the items orbs from a generic quest as Samuel called it. To make things easier for the group (and to my dismay), I was paired up with him, and that's how we ended up wandering the forest looking for more item orbs for the item we were sent after. It was also on our way to where Riki believed to be where the Telethia was recovering at, so we all decided to hit two birds with one stone in a sense.

"Samuel, when are we going to find the last one?" I pouted, looking around the brush avoiding the monsters. "I just want to get this over with so we can beat the bird- I mean, Telethia up already! Can't we just fast-travel there?"

"No, because we have no idea where it is. At least not yet," he replied, wiping off some sweat from his forehead, "But we need the money and extra goodies to upgrade our skills and stuff anyway."

"Upgrading skills?"

"You know, like how you can get points to strengthen the Arts and skills you use to fight- You know what? Never mind." His eyes looked through more brush as I was slashing through a thick-overgrowth, "But next time, please don't run into one of those high-level beasts again. You're lucky that the climbing mechanic that drives monsters away still works here. We would have been screwed if that didn't work."

"Well, excuse me! How was I suppose to know that? I don't have the icons over the monsters or stuff like in this 'game' of this place according to your information!" I clenched the Junk Sword. "And you still didn't answer my question as to how running far enough away or climbing on vines gets the monsters off our trail!"

"That's how the game works if you had played at least the beginning part of the game." He let out a sigh. "And I thought you'd at least had heard of Shulk."

"Um...not that I can recall, but why?"

"I thought he'd be in Smash Bros, but I only remember seeing the last newcomer, Rosalina, announced."

"Smash Bros? Wait, so you don't know who else was announced?" I let out a chuckle. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Does it look like I'm jok- Neetz, watch out!"

I turned around to see Samuel jumping out with his shield, blocking an attack that was aimed right at me. Taken aback by the sudden attack, Samuel growled before pushing off the attacker, who then landed down in the brush as no monsters were around us. The attacker was wearing a long scarf to cover their nose and mouth, holding what looked to be long sword, but what I didn't expect was that with a flick of the wrist, it turned into an electric whip. Their hair color was a short dull green color of sorts. Both of us were taken aback, but I saw that whoever was attacking us was wearing some kind of grey and blue mechanical suit and had their eyes covered by a blindfold of the same striped colors.

"Who's that?" I asked, taking a step back as the attacker spoke no words to us. It just stared at us as the electricity released into the air.

"I...don't recall ever seeing somebody like this before," Samuel replied before he got his out. "Hey! Who are you, and what do you want with us?!"

The attackers said nothing, but then my eyes widen seeing the wrist move slightly, as if a strike was about to come out. "Samuel!" I tugged his towards the right as both of us barely dodged the sudden strike. Both of us jumped back and getting our footing, saw that another strike was heading our way, but we had enough time to act. Samuel ducked down while I spun out of the way, turning around just in time to see the whip returning back. With a flick of the wrist, the whip returned to being a beam-like sword before the attacker chose to charge right towards us.

"Neetz! Get ready to fight!" Samuel called out as his sword started to shine a bit.

"Alright!" I nodded, getting into a fighting position. "Let's go!"

The attacker exchanged blows with me first, making me turn the blade to act as a make-shift shield to defend against the strike. Even though it was a beam of some kind, the opposing sword didn't slice through the Junk Sword, which was a bit surprising to me. Samuel came from behind with his bright yellow sword.

"Light Gash!" Samuel yelled, slicing from the back as I managed to push off the attacker. Charging up an attack, I swung the sword, hoping to get a good hit as Samuel recovered from using the move. The blades collide, creating a force that escaped from between them. Judging by hold, we quickly moved our blades to get an opening to no avail, this person seemed to be very well match with my skill. However, this wasn't so with Samuel when he rejoined the fight, blocking an incoming attack as I recovered from being grazed on the shoulder, but just barely making a cut that could bleed my skin.

He was well diverse with his attacks, using his shield to block the attacks or even using it to force the blade to act as a shield and switching the usages of his weapons. The way he was quickly adapting to the fight made me wonder how long it took for him to adapt to this world. I haven't been here for long, but I'm exactly the fighting type of person in the party. I'd be more of supporter like Sharla if anything. Biting my lip, I pulled myself up from the ground as Samuel landed back by my side, panting heavily.

"Man, this guy won't give up," Samuel grunted as he blocked another swipe of the whip-blade again. "Neetz, care to lead a quick hand?"

"Right!" I sliced through the whip with a powerful swing. I groaned as the whip retreated. When it returned to being a beam sword, the length of the blade quickly recovered as the broken end of the whip vanished. "Man, why are we getting tired, and yet this guy isn't?" I asked him as the attacker charged at us.

"This attacker's an Outsider; I can confirm that much." Samuel responded quickly. Our blades clashed against the beam-like sword, just getting even with the attacker's strength.

"Out of my way!" the low voice of our attacker growled, releasing a strain of Ether that literally froze my body as both of us flew back in pain. The rough impact of the grass and pain coursing in my body made me drop the Junk Sword. I was unable to move as I tried to open my eyes, seeing Samuel unarmed like I was, but the hooded figure looking over at him before coming my way. Groaning, I tried to get up, but I saw the boot of the figure stomping the ground in front of my hand. With a strong grip, the enemy grabbed my neck and held me up, choking me as you will. "So you're its wielder now?" The attacker looked at my struggle to get air in my lungs, but the interest then shifted to the bracelet daggling on my wrist, "Hm? What's this you got here? I've never seen anybody wearing this before."

I could feel the darkness of unconsciousness trying to seep into my mind, but I couldn't let this happen now. Samuel is in danger!

"You're not going to get free from my grip, alright?" the attacker continued. "I got orders to bring you back to HQ, and that's what I'm going to do. Besides, you should know about what's about to come, unless you do sympathize with them." Them? Who's them?! By then I felt the darkness crawling towards me as everything became blurry. Samuel's figure wasn't moving, and I had to do something, anything! A swift motion sets me free, causing me to kneel to the ground and catching my breath in long gasps. Coughing, I looked up and saw some figure in front of me, holding what looked to be some kind of weapon, but I couldn't tell what. My attacker seemed to be taken aback like I was. "The hell?!"

"If I were you, you'd step away from her this instant," the male replied before raising his weapon into the air. "Black Jack!" Suddenly, something formed what looked to be small flying cards before they were flying straight at the attacker. Grunting, the attacker tried to slice them but they were too quick and got onto their target. Hearing something snap, I was brought back into reality when I saw my bracelet glowing and Telaensis resting in my hands. Blinking a bit, I shakily stood up on my feet holding the blade. From it, a small wave of energy, or rather Ether, was released, and my body instantly was feeling better. "You feeling better now?" The male asked me.

Looking at my savoir, I was met with meeting another Outsider holding a long stick tied by a ribbon that was holding a sharp piece of metal, reminding of some Mechon armor shaped like an Axe-weapon. He was different and weird, but I did manage to get a good look at his appearance. For him, he didn't wear anything tight, just mainly loose clothing. Sure, he wore a brown beanie with a green leafy pattern to it, but that wasn't the main thing I was looking at. His hair was a brown-orange mixture, and it was fairly short. His eyes were brown, and his skin tone was tan, which didn't bother me too much. His loose blue wasn't button all the way, showing off his stomach. Baggy grey shoes finally led me to his bare feet. It was quite weird. but not too surprising. if you ask me. That when to what came under his beanie and hair, being two very long thing like the wings of the Nopon on either side of his head. Those were light blue color and stuck out like a sore thumb. Before I could ask him anything, he swing his axe around and the metal was released, still tied onto the stick as it sliced through the whip with ease, catching the attacker off guard.

The attacker took their next action off guard, fleeing the scene by throwing down an Ice Ether crystal to the ground, letting it release a way of Ether into the area. As the wave of Ether and quick flash of light died down, I saw before me a different scene all together. Looking at what was in front of me now, I saw Samuel still lying on the ground unconscious with his weapons some distance apart from him, but Telaensis and the other person were nowhere to be found. I rushed over to grab the Junk Sword when my eyes widen, seeing only two Ether Crystals lying in its place. There was no trace of the Junk Sword to be seen, and all that was left was the Ether Crystals, so I took them instead and went over to Samuel. He seemed to be getting up, but taking a closer look at him made me notice that there was no trace of the fight to be seen on either one of us.

"Samuel... Samuel, get up!" I gently shook him awake with his weapons in my view. "Samuel!"

"Hold on... Let me recover a bit... Man, I hate that Purge post-contact effects," Samuel groaned, managing to get himself in a sitting position. "Neetz, care to be a lamb and grab my weapons?"

"Sure thing." I grabbed both weapons of his and returned to see him standing, though rolling his shoulders.

"Say Neetz, what exactly happened after...the Purge blast?"

"Samuel, if I told you what I saw, you'd think I'm crazy," I chuckled a bit, returning his weapons.

"Neetz, nothing is unusual here and you should known this," Samuel smirked. "We've got the Mechon, metal machines, attacking life on the Bionis, this world is taking place on two titan's dead bodies, we've got monsters running about, and there are Nopon and High Entia here with the same intelligence as humans back on Earth. Sure, it's not that same as back on Earth like video games and hot showers, but get where I'm getting at as somehow I'm like this instead of looking like you?"

"...So you're saying no logic applies here?"

"Not the logic we've known on Earth...or at least some of it."

"Okay, then I'll tell you, but promise me you won't freak out when I tell you about the other guy with some weird long-ranged axe that screws with physics."

"Huh? Hom-Hom and Bird Man? What are you two doing here? Done recovering, yes?" a voice spoke. Our eyes widened, hearing a Nopon voice. Both of us turned around and my eyes widened, seeing a Nopon jumping down, It was wearing a beanie with the axe-weapon on its back, looking happily at us. Not only that, but it was light blue with a tan-like stomach. "Lokomoco saw Hom-Hom and Bird Man in trouble." He explained in a calm manner as my eye twitched. "So Lokomoco tends wounds quickly. Nothing too serious."

"Thanks for the help then, Lokomoco," Samuel smiled before he turned to me. "Neetz, you alright?"

I think my brain crashed. Before the next thing I know, I saw darkness.


	19. Important READ

**Inside of the "Xenoblade Chronicles: Rewind" Universe**

Neetz, Samuel and Lokomoco were sitting inside of the Makna Forest, doing absolutely nothing but playing a game of gold fish. Currently, Samuel currently held one card in his hand while Neetz was looking into the leaves of the huge tree mumbling to her as Lokomoco had his cards still hidden from view.

"Got any nines?" Samuel asked the Nopon.

"Nope! Bird Man Go Fish!" The Nopon said happily.

The High Entia groaned as he reached for a card, pulling it out and placing it into his hand.

"Now Lokomoco turn! Does Bird Man have threes?"

Samuel's eyes widen before he places his two cards down, being both threes.

"Hooray! Lokomoco gets double the rations for tonight!"

"…How do you keep winning this game?!" The High Entia screamed at the Nopon.

"Lokomoco good at game; used to gamble lunch money by paying Go Fish!"

" .ENOUGH!" Neetz screeched before standing up, "I'm sick and tired of waiting. I'm visiting her myself!"

Summoning Telaensis out, she swung her sword, ripping a hole in space and time. Both males were shocked as Neetz lowered the weapon. The hole opened into an apartment complex where another teenager girl was currently sleeping by her laptop, sided by a stack of homework and other things not-related to Xenoblade at all.

"You!" Neetz yelled, walking into the other dimension waving her sword in the air, "Aurora! Get your lazy butt up!"

"Um…" Samuel and Lokomoco gazed into the room as the teenage girl was waking up.

"Huh… What's even going- EH?! What are you three doing here?!" The girl shrieked seeing the ticked-off Neetz with Samuel and Lokomoco behind her.

"YOU! Aurora, you need to post an update on Rewind!" Neetz walked over and grabbed the other girl by the collar of her jacket, "You have 3,715 views on it, 11 favorites, 17 followers and this has a few critic and people possibly waiting for the next chapter. _** . . **_?!"

"Neetz please put her down! You're scaring her!" Samuel yelled, breaking Neetz away from Aurora.

"NO! She needs to tell them!"

"What does author have to say?" Lokomoco asked, "She did nothing wrong."

"…Why aren't you two listening to me?!"

"I… No, I think I should properly address those people who are waiting for the next chapter about my current situation…" Aurora collected her breath before clearing her throat, "I need to inform those who might be wondering about this story's fate… Thanks for reminding me Neetz… even though your aggression wasn't really necessary."

…**Well this was long overdue now isn't it?**

**Hello everybody, if you still remember I'm SPRGMR27 or Aurora and I just wanted to leave this as an… announcement and update for those who are waiting for the next chapter of Xenoblade Chronicles Rewind. **

**I guess there could be an explanation that could be given as well, so I hope you'll all listen to me and understand what I'm going to tell you.**

**Firstly, the reason why this story hasn't been updated was because of a few things. **

**One of them was because… strangely while I was playing the game I stopped in the Makna Forest after getting Riki (Which is where the story kind of stopped as our Party was headed to fight the Telethia). I stopped for a reason I wasn't expecting at all when I was playing the game: I had somehow grew bored and tired of playing around and completing all the mission given out to me.**

**Now I know they can be skipped and as far as I know they don't affect the main story… except the colony ones I'm not too sure. However for someone like me, I find myself trying to complete those goals when I'm having trouble with bosses or I got a ways to go till the next story event. This was one thing that crushed my drive to work on this self insert.**

**Secondly were Neetz, Samuel and Lokomoco – mainly Neetz. With some critic and things from the reviews, I realized that I wasn't accurately portraying them like I had envisioned. Samuel and Lokomoco were easy to fix but as for Neetz… she was a whole different story. After going through what I wanted for this story to be (the story of Xenoblade Chronicles with a girl that has never experienced the game before hand taking part in the events) I soon came to realize that what I have written so far wasn't going to cut it for the story. If I were to rewrite this story with the same plot but with a better self insert, it wouldn't feel right.**

**Therefore, that was another crush to the drive I had.**

**Lastly… I just honestly lost interest in continuing the story. Other things like Persona, Pokemon, school, family and friends, etc. Those things came into my life and I just couldn't find anything to keep me from rewriting or continuing this at all.**

**Now that I had shared those problems, I will tell you what I have official decided:**

**I will discontinue Xenoblade Chronicles Rewind completely and will either delete or leave it here for those of you who enjoyed it while it lasted. **

**I've mainly been inspired and focused on one of my newer works: Persona Fragments. That fanfiction will be updated occasionally but I am focusing all my time and effort towards that one. So if you all want to see what I'm currently working on or would like to support me, you can see that instead.**

…**That should be it. This should be the last thing I should update on this otherwise dead self insert. Unless I can get re-inspired **_**and**_** completely rewrite this under a new title, Xenoblade Chronicles Rewind will be no more.**

**I'm sorry if you find any misspellings here but that's all I've got to say. I know this is a long author's note but I think I needed to point this out seeing that I got this much support for the project.**

**That's all from me and until this gets revived somehow (which is very unlikely for the time being), this is SPRGMR27 or Aurora, signing out forever on Xenoblade Chronicles Rewind.**


End file.
